Seu ca a — >Hidden Tricks with Internet Explorer 8 | al i & >How to Stay Secure on Twitter 7. 4 } MAGAZINE Hands On with | >Firefox 3.5: The DIGITAL EDITION PRUOUE IE) ¢ Best New Browser Roadshows from the Palm of your Hand Connect your The Hottest Powerful, Light, and Very Laptop Full-Featured Phones Affordable Anywhere >AUGUST 2009 DLA L DIGITAL EDITION COVER STORY Tech to Go As the iPhone and BlackBerry have proven, the future of technology is portability. Here we've assembled the ultimate guide for road warriors and geeks on the go. << PcmacAziNE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 VOL. 28 NO. 8 48 Netbooks 51 Smartphones 54 3G Networks 55 USB Modems 57 Portable Projectors Photo: Larry Hirschowitz/Corbis14 ay FIRST LOOKS 14 HARDWARE Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch Epson Perfection V300 Photo FujitsuM2010 Plus Quick Looks 20 BUSINESS lomega eGo Portable Hard Drive Mac Edition (500GB) Lenovo ThinkPad T400s Xerox Phaser 3600/DN Peachtree Quantum 2010 QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 9 26 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS Apple iPhone 3GS Amazon Kindle DX Samsung PNSOB85O LG BD390 Plus Quick Looks 34 SOFTWARE Sims 3 Firefox 3.5 Google Android 1.5 Plus Quick Looks 70 THE BEST STUFF 16 40 42 44 58 63 66 69 LETTERS FEEDBACK TECH NEWS FRONT SIDE Cracking down on targeted Web ads; plug computing; a look at Microsoft’s home-energy software; bargain back-to-school gear. OPINIONS FIRST WORD: LANCE ULANOFF JOHN C. DVORAK SASCHA SEGAN DAN COSTA SOLUTIONS BE AN IE EXPERT Nine hidden power user tips for Internet Explorer 8. AT WORK Save time and headaches with online payroll SECURITY Security for Twitter users. TECH TIPS [BC Menino Baits Eaton, ISSN 0888-8607, is pubes monthly a $2497 tor ons year Zit Dave Meda Inc, 28 Ene 28h Street, New York NY 10016-7940. AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 1 >FIRST WORD LANCE ULANOFF Pre Is Not Competing with the iPhone here's little doubt that the Palm Pre is Sprint’s most sophisticated smartphone. I called it the most excit- ing product at CES, and it is the only product we're still talking about months after the show. Still | think there are alot of misconceptions about who is buying this phone. Let's get something straight first. The Palm Pre is not competing with the iPhone. | know that everyone likes to create this kind of buzz. Anything new, fresh, and exciting is always seen as “The [Insert Market Leader Here] Killer.” That’s why every new search engine is pitched or touted as a “Google killer” though none are. Palm no Match for iPhone Apps When the Pre launched, it had an App Cata- log with about two dozen apps. The iPhone didn’t launch with any apps—or an App Store, for that matter. Actually, the iPhone SDK launched almost eight months later. But less than four months thereafter, the <2 pcmacazine DiettAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 App Store arrived with 500 applications. As far as | can tell, the Pre launched with an application store and some applications, but Palm did not deliver the SDK to more than a handful of select vendors. | have trou- ble understanding why hundreds of Palm Pre developers haven't been working with the SDK for months. Seriously, | don’t think app development for the Pre is rocket sci- ence or even as complex as it likely is for the iPhone. Most of the apps developed for the Pre are based on HTML, so what exactly do developers need to know? The SDK should be incredibly simple. As for Flash support on the Palm Pre there was none at launch time. This should change, however, by year’s end. There’s also the promise of an updated SDK, which will allow developers to build code that skips past the browser layer and possibly touches that nifty Linux core. That said, Palm execs don’t seem par- ticularly anxious about the relative lack of rich apps. Perhaps they’re just not all that interested in letting third-party developersIf the Pre were competing with the iPhone, this could be seen as a major failure. But it’s not. stretch application boundaries and make full use of the Pre’s native capabilities—at least for now. If the Pre were competing with the iPhone, this could be seen as a major failure. But it’s not. The Pre’s market is existing Palm customers. So anyone who owns a Treo or Centro, along with Sprint users looking for a great smartphone, are all perfect candi- dates for the Pre. If you don’t think this is a big enough market to support the Palm Pre, remember that Palm has sold about 2 million Centros alone iPhone Users Staying Put Another false assumption is that iPhone owners might consider switching to the Palm Pre. This is laughable. No iPhone owner is going to give it up for a Palm Pre. This is not because the iPhone is fundamentally better than the Pre. Instead, it’s because iPhone owners have too much invested in their phones already. They’ve likely bought dozens of apps that they love and cannot run on anything else. They're not going to switch to a Pre that can’t run those apps, or even purchase similar apps that they can adopt instead. Over time Palm's app catalog will grow, and I’m certain developers will build more intense apps and games. Right now, the app selection may not be even compelling enough for current Palm owners to switch tothe Pre. Aclearer competitor for the Pre is virtu- ally any BlackBerry phone, with the pos- sible exception of the Storm, which doesn't have a keyboard. RIM’s software catalog is smaller than Apple's but significantly larger than Palm's. But as a new BlackBerry owner, | know that downloading third-party apps isnot an essential activity. Both Palm’s and RIM's phones (the Storm excluded) fea- ture a combination of brilliant screens and QWERTY keyboards. The Pre, of course, adds the touch screen and accelerome- ter—features RIM offers only on the Storm, a product that has not won a great deal of support in the tech analyst community. It would be naive to think that Palm will not at least go after undecided smartphone consumers—the vast number of people still carrying around dumb feature phones. They're rich targets for both the iPhone and Palm Pre, and I'd say the new Pre has fight- ing chance in this market, too, even if that’s not its primary target. Obviously, the iPhone will still seem sexier and, until Palm clarifies (and enriches) its App Catalog, the iPhone will remain the better choice. However, the Preis an achievement in its own right, and as those changes come and good word of mouth spreads, | expect the Pre to give virtu- ally any smartphone a run for its money. Just don't expect any iPhone owners to switch. FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER! Catch the chief’s comments on the latest tech developments at twitter.com/LanceUlanoff. AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 3 >< EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, PC MAGAZINE NETWoRK Lance Ulanoft eprror Stephanie Chang ‘iREcTOR OF ONLINE CONTENT, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Vicki B. Jacobson ‘executive eons Dan Costa (reviews), Jeremy A. Kaplan (features) ‘ant omtcron Richard J. Domlee oironia prooucrion ineeron Nicholas Cosmo LABS omREcTOR SENIOR EDITOR GAROWARE) LaarhiAlmendrala Ragaza ewion orrons Sean carroll (sortware, internet, networking), Wendy Sheehan Donnell (consumer electronics), Carol Manais (blOae), Kyle Monson, Sarah Pixe Solutions), Erk Rhey (Digital Eation) sewion when Eric Grifith ‘Reviews eotToRs Tony Hoffman (hardware), Matthew Murray (consumer electronics) Convener Elizabeth A. Parry copy sirons Margaret McVeigh, vin Ovedow beans Leap anavrers. Cisco Cheng (laptops), Tim Gideon (audio and video), Robert Heron (HOTV ang home theater) Mario Morejan (networking and small business), Mich | Muchmore (software), Nell Rubenking (Security), Joel Santo Domingo (desktops), Sascha Segan (mobile devices). M. David Stone (arinters and scanners) aawyst Dan Evans (DIY, gaming) sumo anatrst PJ Jacebowitz (digital eameras and camcorders) ‘opucT Reviews cooRoIarOR Zachary Honig ‘rare pvoroorauem Scott Schecvy PCMAG.COM MANAGER, ONLINE PRODUCTION Yur-San Teal prooucees Gregg Binaer, Mark Lamoryese, Witney A. Reynolds ‘News tortor Mark Hachman NEWS REPORTER Chioe Albanasiis Associae eoroRs Jennifer L. Deteo, Brian Heater (blogs) INVENTORY CONTROL cooRDINATOR Nicole Graham ‘Tare errors Corinns lozzio (reviews), Nicole Price Fesig (reviews) assistant xorron Sean Lacs ‘eviews pnopucen Errol Plerre-Louls COMMERCE PRODUCERS man Edwards, Avilla Rechette Unuryeaoceay manacem Tim Sinith cormuniry wanacem im Lynch {CREATIVE DIRECTOR Cris Phils PRODUCTION ARTI=T Guyang Chon ogo eorromat RECTOR, woeo avo DIoTALEvENTS Sebastian RuDey Cconrmisutinesprtors Helen Bradley, John R. Delany, Richard V. Dragan, John C. Dvorak, Craig Elison, Galen Fott, Bll Howard, Don Labriola, ‘Temie Lendino, Jim Louderback, Bil Mecivone, Edward Mendelson, ian Ozer, Nel Randall, Matthew D. Sarel, Lary Seltzer [DXTREMETECHCON forTOR Loyd Case sEMOR TECHNOLOGY ANALYSTS JaS0N Cross, Jool Durham paoovceR Jeremy Atkinson sumoR proouceR Mike NGUYEN sneens Matt Reichman, Natalie Shoemaker ‘cHicF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Jason Young vice petsioenr,oicrat sates Kennoth J. Detlot ice pmesipent, wasxerine James Selden 212-503-4589 Fcionas SALES MANAGER AY Loria 352-873-4288 ‘Account exteurive Susan arta’ 649-459-293) Saurs assistant Angollgue Soto 272-503-5255 ‘AccOUNT cooROIMATORS Christine Blake (East Coast) 212-503-241; Jamil Hibbert (East Coast) 212-503-543 ‘Alycia Eakin (Central, Northwest, and Wast Coast) 416-S47-8036; Angelica Ferrer (West Coast) 415-547-8045 ‘Aovernisins orrice 28 E. 28th St, New York, NY 10016-7940; phone, 800-336-2423, 212-503-3500; fax, 212-503-5000 For advertising information go to www.ncmagmedia.com ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA INC. ‘hlerexecue orrices Jason Young ‘ShlEF FMANCIAL OFPicen AND SeNion Vice PRESIDENT Neil Glaze ‘chieropeearimc orricee Steve Sutton ‘stwoR vic presi Lance Ulaniotf (Content, PC Magazine Networ) SGewenat counseL Stephen Hicks ‘Vice presiosns Bath Repeta (Human Resources), James Selden (Marketing and Sales Development, Consumer/Small-Business Group) ‘executive omeeron Larry Chevres Internet Technology) piateroR Nyosha Bass (Licensing) Di arre vans veo ‘et ct Ste go gpg son aay AL UBS 0EEE Feed The Educational Limitations of Phones In regard to Dan Costa’s column “One Cell Phone Per Child,” a computer like the OLPC with a full keyboard is a better educational tool than a cell phone with a calculator pad keyboard. How can a child use a numeric keypad to write stories, look up words in an electronic dictionary, or learn to program? | dumped my programmable calculator when | first got my PC because the calculator key- Pad is too limited. For children and their edu- cation, any computer with a full keyboard will be much more useful than a cell phone with a keypad.—N.J. Wong More on Taking Better Photos In response to your feature story “Don’t Shoot in Auto! How to Take Better Pictures,” having taken photos for about 42 years, it’s always nice to get those reminders of how things are done. Now | need to go back and read more on the RAW format. Also! would like to see a feature that, when you click on Enlarge, creates a larger file, not just shows more of the same picture (for example, going from an 800-by-600 photo to a 3,072-by- 2,304 photo). Just one of those things that really bugs me.—C.J. Wagner Bac An Underrated Robot | enjoyed reading Lance Ulanoff’s column “The Future of Robots Will be Underwhelm- ing" (July). But why no talk about QRIO? It seems a lot of people don't even know about QRIO. QRIO was a very advanced robot developed by Sony that was much like ASIMO, but even better. It had very skillful balancing abilities and is the record holder for the first robot to fully run (with both feet off the ground). QRIO could under- stand Japanese and English as well as learn from people it talked to. This robot could also recognize faces for future reference. It was an absolutely amazing robot. But Sony suddenly killed the project for financial rea- son, which was quite sad. There are a good amount of videos on YouTube showing it off, though.—Kakkoii Monetizing the News Dan Costa turned in a good column with “Long Live the Free Web.” | pay for Web access. | pay for the content of professional journals | subscribe to online. | pay for a real newspaper. But | think Costa is right about micro-payments for basic news content. Sounds like more trouble than it’s worth, HOW TO CONTACT US We welcome your comments and suggestions. When sending e-mail to Feedback, please state in the subject line which article or column prompted your response. E-mail pemag@pemag.com. All letters become the property of PC Magazine and are subject to editing. We regret that we cannot answer letters individually. AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 5 >especially if one can just look elsewhere for news stories. How could you stop stories from being quoted or reported on by innu- merable blogs or other Web sites? My guess is we'll just click elsewhere. My local paper has started printing “exclusive,” value-added content (mostly original, in-depth investigative journalism) in its print editions only, while keeping most other news free on the Web site. Publishers need to continue to come up with new ways to monetize their content and offer real value in the open marketplace. We consum- ers will pay for something if it’s valuable to us, and we will respond to advertising that is useful to us. But we don't want to be nickel e The most Cr a and small business a eee cla ARMs kes Pes aL Pinte Ce kre Tae : Peete ys) et el and dimed for every Web site we browse. —Pastore7 Missing Piece of Router Roundup In reference to your product guide “How to Buy a Wi-Fi Router,” why is it when I read anarticle like this, there is never a mention about the correct wireless adapters that go with the router? Do not assume the cus- tomer knows enough to get one. Yes, if you have a wireless card already, it will prob- ably work. However, if you are replacing the router for speed and range issues, you will need to get the corresponding card/ adapter to get close to the performance youare looking for—Codamani2 Perel ee aos FE) BY LeLe Prec e Acro) zl Drie ads "how to" guides, Se ARC Li itoriFollowing Your Web Footsteps Does targeted advertising need to be regulated? Have you ever wondered why certain Web ads just seem to follow you around the Inter- net? Think it’s just a coincidence that a ban- ner ad for lowering your mortgage keeps appearing after you search for new homes? This is most likely a result of targeted (or “behavioral”) advertising, a method that Iustration by Doug Ress serves you specific ads based on your browsing history. Advertisers say this makes it easier for Web users to find the products and services they're looking for. But others, including U.S. lawmakers, feel it can cause serious privacy concerns if left unchecked. What concerns some privacy groups and AUGUST 2009 DIGITAL EDITION 7SS FRONTS E Se A concern with the user-consent approach is that the form will mirror a software terms of service. members of Congress is how Web activity is being tracked, what type of data is being collected, and how that information is being stored. In the past year, representatives from Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, and others have been called by Congress several times to testify about their ad-related data collection. And while these companies have pledged to “anonymize” the data they collect after sev- eral months, concerns remain about whether companies will police themselves. Rep. Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Internet subcommittee, has said that he and other committee members want. to craft legislation on the issue this year. Ideally, the bill would extend “to Internet users the assurance that their online experi- ence is more secure,” Boucher said. “Such a measure will be a driver of greater levels of Internet uses suchas e-commerce, not a hin- drance to them.” In an effort to avoid an intervention by Congress, a group of media and marketing trade associations (including the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Direct Marketing Association) released guidelines that will require ISPs to get per- mission from users before they can track online behavior and serve up targeted ads. The guidelines, which are expected to be rolled out in early 2010, are shaped into seven principles. A concern with the user-consent approach is that the consent form will mir- rora software terms-of-service agreement, in which the specifics are buried in the fine print of a lengthy document that would take hours to read (leading most users to just agree to it automatically). To avoid this, the guidelines specify that the notices should be “enhanced” through a browser toolbar or a link that users must click on to give con- sent. Groups such as the Council of Better Business Bureaus and the Direct Marketing Association are responsible for implement- ing accountability programs to promote widespread adoption.—Chloe Albanesius PARKR Parkr isa Google Maps mash- up that marks amusement parks around the world on a map, from the well-known to the ones that you may not ‘even know are in your ZIP code.—Alan Henry RAPTR Part Twitter, part Steam com- munity, and part Facebook, Raptris a social network that gives gamers a place to con- nect with one another over their favorite games, as wellas give you a way to see the games you most commonly play—AH BEST OF THE INTERNET VOTETOCRACY This site lists bills in either house of Congress right now, lets you read all about them, and keep on top of the bill's status as it works its way into law. With a single click, you canadd legislation you find onthe site to your “plan."—AH S<_ © PcmAGAziNE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009The Worldina Wall Socket Peripheral makers want to make “plug computing” a reality and bring these tiny wonders into your home. If you think netbooks and nettops are small, how about a full-featured com- puter about the size of a plug-in air freshener? Hard- ware manufacturer Mar- vell is working to bring tiny computers to market with its SheevaPlug initiative A SheevaPlug device has a “wall wart” form factor while inside lives a 1.2-GHz Intel ARM-compatible CPU, equipped with 512MB of flash memory and 512MB of DRAM. The small computer talks to your home network via an embedded Ethernet port. It can also connect to peripherals (such as a printer or scanner) viaa USB 2.0 connector. And the good news for environmentalists is that a plug computer consumes less than one tenth of the power of a standard PC. Marvell announced its plug computing initiative in February, and initially opened it up to development in Europe. Recently, Marvell has partnered with four high- Ethernet, 4) | PLUGGED IN Marvell's plug computer has a USB port and profile OEMs that could speed up bringing plug computers to market. According toa statement by Simon Milner, vice presi- dent and general manager of the Enterprise Business Unit at Marvell, “[We are] delighted to collaborate with retail partners such as Buffalo, D-Link, LaCie and Seagate on delivering new levels of user experience to consumers.” Marvell has also joined forces with Axentra, CTERA Networks (whose plug can turna USB device intoa NAS. device with online backup), and Eyecon (software for connecting an iPhone to other USB devices). Perhaps the most finished product is the Cloud Engines Pogoplug, which was on display at the Consumer Electronics Show. Since Microsoft currently does not support plug computers, all models are being devel- oped for Linux or other open-source plat- forms. —Mark Hachman AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITALEDITION 9 >>——————————————— BEST OF OUR BLOGS GEARLOG K-box Puts a Speaker Anywhere Want to play your iPod's music throughout the room? You don't need external speakers when you've got the Kerchoonz K-box, which turns any solid surface into a speaker. The K-box has a standard 3.5mm audio jack, so it works with any audio device. Simply plug it in to your player and the surface beneath it resonates with the music you're playing. Ithasa standard speaker inside for mid- to high-range frequencies, and Gel Audio Technology for bass. The K-box is the size of amobile phone and recharges through a USB connection for a playtime of 20 hours between chargings. Its available for $74.50 (direct) through the company’s site.—Troy Dreier GOODCLEANTECH ALemon-y Fresh Clean Clock Batteries have a lot of problems. They're never there when you need them, usually not reusable, and filled with toxic chemicals. The stylish Bedol Water Clock does away with those alkaline pains, running entirely off of water and lemon juice. The unit can go for an astounding 6 to 8 weeks before needing a refill still keep- ing time while you fill t up thanks to onboard memory. The price for this very green, very cool gadget? Ameasly $16. At 4 by 35 inches, it's the perfect desktop clock for the geeky green office. The clock comes in blue, charcoal, orange and, of course, green.—Esten Hurtle << 10 Pcmacazine DIoMTAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 @WoRK Easy Video E-mail Marketing It’s not difficult to find an e-mail marketing ser- vice that's affordable for SMBs these days. But it istrickier to find an affordable e-mail marketing service that offers features for the iPhone and integrates with Twitter. Enter GetResponse. You can try it using the free 10-customer option. Cre- ating a campaignis simple, with more than 300 HTML templates and the option to sendmes- sages in plain text. You can set up unlimited auto- mated follow-ups, and create surveys to send to potential and existing customers. You also get good analytics and video capability for $18 per month for up to 500 contacts.—Kathy Yakal SECURITY WATCH Subjected to Spam Security company McAfee released its July 2009 Spam Report. Init area number of useful and interesting statis- tics. Specifically, the report lists the top spam subject lines sorted by the TLD (top-level domain) of the spammer: 1. Hello 2. Hi 3, RE: DISCOUNT 80% OFF onPfizer 4, Replica Watches 5. Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender 6. Delivery Status Notification —Larry SeltzerExtremeTech Home-Energy Helper We test-drive Microsoft’s Hohm for tracking power usage. How energy-efficient i yout home? Late fing out i Microsoft Hohm is an incubator project within Microsoft to let users manage their home energy use, while allowing Microsoft a vehicle to sell ads against the Hohm ser- vice, which is completely free to use. The company is on the edge of the burgeoning home-energy-monitoring market, of which Google and others have jumped i On the surface, Hohm is a solid concept. I don’t put much stock in the initial energy calculations that Hohm offered from my ZIP code, but the site immediately launched into many detailed questions that tried to find places to save money: Which direction does your house face? Are your windows single- pane? Are your ducts sealed and insulated? Hohm does provide recommendations POWER HOUSE Microsoft Hohm gives you an at-a-glance view of your eneray usage and compares that with the average for your region, to improve the energy efficiency of your home, including advice on how much each upgrade will cost, the projected savings, and the break-even point. It has a solid foun- dation, probably a step above rival Google’s PowerMeter, which works with so-called connected “smart meters” that provide on- the-fly usage data to utility partners. But Hohm also feels a little skimpy in places. First of all, the service supports only a handful of utility companies, one in the Midwest and the others centered around Seattle, which limits its usefulness. Also, it did not do a good enough job of advising me in upgrading to high-efficiency appli- ances and devices that qualify for the fed- eral tax credit.—Mark Hachman AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 11 >Connected Traveler FRONTSIDE Back-to-School Bargains Head back to college with new gear—and money left in your pocket. These days, being low-tech in college is not an option. Just as higher education is the Place to train for your career, it is also the Place to hone your tech skills. Besides, you don't want to be that person in the library with the eight-year-old behemoth lap- top. The latest gear will help you get more work done as well as run with the high-tech crowd, But you don’t have to spend a for- tune. Here are our picks for bargain-priced back-to-school equipment. Unless you want to spend countless hours in a computer lab, you need a PC. If you need the power of a desktop but are short ‘on space, consider an all-in-one, such as the [1] Lenovo IdeaCentre A600 ($699 direct, @ © © @ ©). This stylish powerhouse has a 21-inch screen, a SOOGB hard drive, Wi-Fi, and a DVD burner (you can also upgrade to a model witha Blu-ray player and TV tuner). And to keep your computer—and your data—safe, make sure you are protected with a security suite, such as the new Nor- ton Internet Security 2010 beta (free until 12 pc HacaziNe DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 beta expires, not rated). If the portability of a laptop is more your style, check out the [2] Acer Aspire 3935 ($900 street, @ ©), witha 13-inch widescreen, ultrathin design, optical drive, Web cam, and awesome battery life. For the Mac crowd, the affordable [3] Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch @ @ @ @ ©) has just hit the streets. Its beefy processor, multi-touch control, SD slot, and backlit keyboard offer a stylish way to write that term paper—or goof off on Facebook. To protect your shiny new laptop, as well as cart around your text- books, try a rugged-yet-affordable bag Product name in RED indicates Editors’ Choice.Qe with padding and lots of pockets like the [4] ($30 street, ». Another device that will prevent you from spending aggravating hours in the computer lab is your own printer. We rec- ommend the [5] Canon Pixma iPP4600 ($99 direct, ) for its bargain price, high-quality photo prints, and automatic duplexing feature. But to print out those great campus snapshots, you need a good camera. The [6] Canon PowerShot A1100 IS ($199.99 list, ) is a 12-megapixel point-and-shoot with top-notch image quality, fast shooting speeds, and a host of shooting features for novice shutterbugs Back at your college abode, relax with some great-sounding tunes on your iPod or iPhone, courtesy of the [7] ($200 direct, ), a speaker dock with strong bass response, low distor- tion, alarm clock functions, and a remote control. And if you're going to splurge on anything, make sure you have a good Bluetooth headset that offers clear, sharp sound quality inside and out, such as the stylish [8] Aliph Jawbone Prime ($129.99 direct, ).—Erik Rhey aususT 2009 DIGITAL EDITION 13,INSIDE LC uct Le ty CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SOFTWARE ml ei Loaded, Affordable, and Green MacBook After all the whining, bickering, and the constant remarks about how Windows laptops have better features for a lower price, Apple has finally gotten the message. The lovable MacBook Pro 13-inch | L) ef has brought back the FireWire port, lowered its price, and for the LA first time in the company’s history, added the elusive SecureDigital (SD) slot. Indeed, it'sa great time to be shop- ping fora new Apple laptop—especially this ‘one, which earns our Editors’ Choice. Physically, this model resembles the pre- vious 13-inch aluminum model. Reshuffling the ports and adding a bigger battery didn’t affect the system's weight (4.5 pounds). The 13.3-inch widescreen receives a minor makeover as well: 60 percent greater color gamut, which shows when compared with the Acer 3935 screen. This MacBook also has a backlit keyboard, something most of its competition cannot boast. Also, the touchpad is fluid and responsive, complete with the single-click mouse button. This lap- top is certified for Energy Star 5.0, EPEAT Gold, and RoHS, and thus earns our Green- Tech Approved designation. In terms of performance, this MacBook Pro showed good gaming scores, thanks to its Nvidia GeForce 9400M integrated graphics. And its video-encoding time of 1 minute 16 seconds matched that of the Acer 3935. Its CineBench R10 score of 4,584, on the other hand, topped those of the Acer 3935 and the HP dv3z. And the battery bump helped it achieve an admirable score of 4:44 on MobileMark 2007. This makes it a compelling system for budget-conscious Windows consumers thinking of switching to Mac OS.—Cisco Cheng >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPECS 2.26-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7550 processor: 2GB DDR3 SDRAM; 160GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive; 13.3-inch, 1,280-by-800 LED display; Broadcom 802.1IAGN wireless; 4.5 pounds system weight (5.0 pounds travel); two USB Ports; one FireWire 800 port; 58-Wh lithium ion battery; Mac OS 10.5.7. DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009POEUN es canes @@@00 VvERYGoOD CT orem >CLICK HERE FOR MOREFIRST LOOKS HARDWARE Fujitsu M2010 Fujitsu’s Vibrant-but- Mediocre Netbook While other companies are launch- ing two to threenetbooks ata time, Fujitsu has been waiting patiently fj for its opportunity to enter an increasingly crowded field. And now the time has come. The M2010 has one of the most vivid and color-rich 10-inch widescreens in the business, and the design is easy on the eyes. But this netbook is not without its flaws. | can forgive the 89 per- cent keyboard, since this netbook is aimed at students. The price tag and low battery score, however, are harder to reconcile. The M2010 is designed like any other 10- inch netbook, with a hard plastic top, but it uses a splash of color and some branding to spice things up. At 2.5 pounds, the M2010 is lighter than the ASUS IOOOHE and the Acer One because it’s configured with a smaller three-cell battery. The M2010's 10-inch widescreen and 1,024-by-600 resolution are flavors that can be found on any given netbook, but few are as bright or as vivid. Its port selection is run-of-the-mill, and it has the customary internals (except fora slightly faster 5,400-rpm hard drive). And its bat- tery score of 2 hours 4 minutes falls far short hyd Fujitsu M2010 $489 direct e0e@e0o PROS Gorgeous, color-rich widescreen. Plenty of aren credentials. Attractive design. CONS Pricey for an education netbook. The three-cell battery isn’t going to cut it. of its competition, which tends to turn in scores above 4 hours. Looks and an impres- sive display both fall in favor of the M2010. But it is too expensive for what you get, and students will definitely want to upgrade to the bigger battery.—Cisco Cheng >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPECS 1.6-GHz Intel Atom N270 processor; IGB DDR2 SDRAM: 160GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive; Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950; 10-inch, 1,024-by-600 screen; 2.5 pounds system weight (3.2 pounds travel); three USB ports; 26-Wh, 2.4-Ah lithium ion battery; Windows xP Home Edition. AUGUST 2009. PE MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 17>LAPTOPS Acer Aspire One (0250-1165) $300 street eeeeo * Thinner and lighter than its predecessor + Price stays where itis + Very good battery life + Batteries are carried over from the previous version PROS +89 percent keyboard is one of the smallest + Touchpad and mouse but- tons are small CONS The Aspire One is now thinner and lighter than its predecessor without rais- ing the price. BOTTOM LINE 1.6-GHz Intel Atom N270 processor; 1GB DDR2 ‘SDRAM; 160GB, hard drit 128MB Intel GMA 950 ‘graphics; 10.1-inch screen; 2.4-pounds; 23-Wh battery; ‘Windows XP Home. SPECS QUICK LOOKS HARDWARE —— Acer Aspire Timeline ‘AS3810T (6415) $900 street e ° + All-day battery life + Excellent value + Well designed ‘Plenty of memory + Huge hard drive ‘+ Mouse buttons are difficult to use * Won't win any speed races ‘Acer’s new ultraportable is no speed demon and it doesn’t have an optical drive, but you do get over 8 hours of battery life for just $900. Intel Core 2 Duo U9400 processor; 4GB SDRAM; 500GB hard drive; 64MB Intel GMA 4500MHD graph- ics; 13.4-inch widescreen; 3.6 pounds; 56-Wh battery; Vista Home Premium (64-bit). Product name in RED indicates Editors’ Choice. <1 PcHAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (SD Slot) $1,699 direct eo + Lower starting price + Superior design + Bigger battery * GreenTech Approved + Versatile touchpad += Deep-sixes the Express- Card slot + Base configuration uses integrated graphics only This MacBook shows improved battery life over the previous version, while lowering its base price to $1,699. 2.53-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 processor; 4GB SDRAM; 250GB hard drive; 15.4-inch display; 5.3 pounds; 73-Wh battery; Mac 0S 10. Konica Minolta magicolor 1600W $180 street eeeeo + Small footprint, suitable for desktop + High-quality text * Crisp, vibrant color graphics + Fairly slow + Relatively low paper capacity + Manual duplexing only The magicolor 1600W is a touch less expensive than its closest competition and a touch faster. Color laser; USB connec- tion; 4-pass color; 5 pages per minute (color); 10.9 by 15.6 by 15 inches (HWD); 32 pounds.—— Canon Selphy CP780 ‘SimpleTech [re}drive Logitech diNovo Verbatim Bluetooth Compact Photo Printer (500GB) Keyboard (Mac Edition) __ Wireless Notebook $99.99 direct $90 street $99.99 list Laser Mouse $40 street eo e ° @0000 @0000 + Reasonably fast + GreenTech Approved * Spacious palm rest + Adjustable resolution + Low price + Outstanding value ‘Matches Macaesthetic _» Compact, comfortable + Low cost per photo * Quiet + Impressive wireless range shape + Photos are water and + Easy-to-use software + Programmable function scratch resistant ‘+ Includes Turbo USB keys + Photos show slight + Turbo USB 2.0 doesn't * Tricky to sync the first time + No thumb buttons soft-focus effect improve operation insome — * Expensive ‘Lines onan angle can print circumstances, and can with jagged edges even hurt it Although the CP780isastep The [reldrive isan inexpen- if you're picky about your Though small, the Verbatim below top photo printers in sive, easy-to-use, and eco- keyboards, the diNovo Mac Bluetooth mouse makes Guality it's good enough for friendly external hard drive keyboard has plenty to offer, room for four-way scrolling most casual photographers. that can class up your desk. including programmable hot _ and adjustable resolution. eys—but it doesn't come cheap. Thermal dye; USB connec: USB, 1.5 by 4.8by 7.4 inches Wireless; 19 programmable Bluetooth; 2.0 by 3.5 inches; tion; 4-pass color; 10-in-1_ (HWD). keys. 4 ounces. memory card slot; 3.0 by 6.9 by 5.2 inches (HWD); 2.1 pounds. Visit pemag.com for the full reviews of these and scores of other hardware products. AUGUST 2003. PE MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 19 >FIRST LOOKS BUSINESS omega eGo Portable Hard Drive Mac Edition (S00GB) Mac Pocket Drive Is lomega’s Vindication rew" omega got its name dragged #1] L& through the muck for producing sss some poor products, the worst Licautg being the Zip 100 back in the 1990s EEC and the ScreenPlay in 2006. Over the past few years, lomega products have improved, and the eGo Mac Edition should help to put the company back in consumers’ good graces. This drive is fast, stylish, and compatible with a wide variety of Macs. The eGo is now slimmer—O.5 by 3.5 by 5.6 inches (HWD)-than the “hip flask”-style €Go introduced in 2007. It also has a new automotive-style glossy paint job. The USB and two FireWire ports are protected by an overhang, and the drive is engineered to survive a 51-inch drop, so you needn't worry about it getting tossed about in your com- muter bag or backpack. This drive is totally bus-powered, so no need for an outlet. On our tests, the eGo was particularly speedy, taking only 40 sec- onds to copy our 1.2GB test folder over USB 2.0. What's more amazing is that the drive $< 20 PcHAcAZINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 took only 23 seconds to transfer the same file over FireWire 800 and 24 seconds over FireWire 400. This is faster than the full-size external Western Digital My Book Studio II (our current Editors’ Choice for Mac drives), and faster than any of the other pocket-size portable drives, You can reformat the drive for Win- dows use, but by default the drive comes formatted with the HFS+ file system. It’s disappointing that you have to register ‘on lomega’s Web site to download the “included” software; this should've come loaded on the drive. You can also download a six-month subscription to McAfee VirusS- can Plus (Windows only), as well as lomega QuikProtect backup software, EMC Retro- spect, and MozyHome online backup (2GB free). The lack of loaded software is a big ding on an otherwise great product. Even despite this shortcoming, the eGo is still an excellent backup solution for the mobile Mac user.—Joel Santo Domingo >>CLICK HERE FOR MORElomega eGo Portable Hard Drive Mac Edition (SOOGB) $150 list e ° PROS Compact, pocketable size. High-capacity drive. Good drop rating. Comes with all necessary cables. Compatible with Mac OS 10.1-10.5+. Speedy transfers. CONS Requires Internet connec- jon to download software. Case is a fingerprint magnet. Drive light is a little too bright. Includes ports for USB ana both Fivewive 400 ana 800 AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 21. >FIRST LOOKS BUSINESS Lenovo ThinkPad T400s Thinner, with a Few Tradeoffs It was only a matter of time before ny LE Lenovo launched a larger version au fm 5 of its business-class ThinkPad X300—the T400, But the T400 is now outdated, hence the T400s. Although Lenovo has added only an “s” to the name, there are some dramatic changes. The T400s takes the X300's thin profile and widens it witha 14-inch LCD. A FireWire port, an SD card slot, and discrete graphics aren't available on the T400s, however. Above everything else, the T400s is an aesthetic overhaul. This laptop measures exactly linch thick (13.3 by 9.4 by linches, HWD) including the optical drive. And at 3.9 pounds, the T400s is officially the lightest laptop with a 14-inch screen. The T400s’ chassis is fortified with rugged carbon and glass-fiber. The 14-inch LED widescreen is energy efficient, which along with other factors, earned the T400s our GreenTech Approved designation. You also get embed- ded 3G, Bluetooth, anda GPS chip. On our tests, the T400s' video encoding scores were almost even with its major rivals. However, its score dropped on Cinebench RIO compared with the previous T400 Lenovo ThinkPad T400s $1,995 direct @e0e0 PROS Lightest in its class. Exquisitely thin. Modular optical drive included. Fast, but en= ergy efficient processor. Very nice resolution. ‘Tough as nails. Phenomenal typing experience. Excellent green credentials. CONS FireWire and extra card slot were con- cessions that had to be made. No extended batteries. (6,838 versus the T400s' 5,292). Extended batteries are not available with the T400s; its four-cell battery lasted 4 hours 31 minutes on MobileMark 2007. Not bad, but the T400 scored 5:20 with an extended battery. Overall, the original T400 offers a richer experience. But the T400s' lighter, thinner chassis and widescreen will be appreciated by business travelers.—Cisco Cheng >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPECS 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 P9500 processor; 2GB DDR3 SDRAM; 128GB SSO; Intel Graphics Media Accelerator ASOOMHO; 1411-inch, 1,440-by-900 processor; 3.9 Ibs (4.5 Ibs travel); 3 USB ports; 44WH, 3.9Ahr, Li lon battery, Windows Vista Business, s<_ 22 pc macazine plorTaL EDITION AUGUST 2009FIRST LOOKS BUSINESS Xerox Phaser 3600/DN A Fast, Basic Mono Laser onochrome laser print- ers will almost certainly disappear eventually, replaced by color print- ers, but for now they're still the essential workhorses in most offices. The Phaser 3600/DN is a prime example. Built around a 40-page-per-minute (ppm) engine and offering a substantial 600-sheet input capacity as standard, it’s potentially a good choice for any small-to-midsize office or workgroup with relatively heavy-duty printing needs. At 15.1 by 15.7 by 18.8 inches (HWD) and 38 pounds, this printer is small enough to fit on your desk but big enough so you prob- ably won't want it there. The 3600/DN’s paper handling is a good news-bad news scenario. The good news, in addition to the duplexer, is its 600-page capacity. The bad news for those who need more, however, is that the only option is an additional 500- sheet tray for a relatively low maximum of 1,100 pages. The 3600/DN scored extremely well on our speed tests, turning in a score of 5 min- utes 18 seconds on our business applications, almost a tie with our Editors’ Choice printer, the Lexmark T65On (5:07). No comparably priced printer has done better on our tests. But the 3600/DN’s output quality is less impressive than its speed. It did a particu- Xerox Phaser 3600/DN $749 direct @eeoo PROS Fast. Reasonably high-quality output. Ample standard paper capacity with a 600- sheet input. Automatic duplexing. CONS Limited paper-handling options, with a 1,100-sheet maximum and no finisher, stacker, or sorter. larly good job of retaining thin lines in graph- ics, Photo quality is more than good enough for printing recognizable images from Web pages. Text quality is a touch below par— although good enough for most business needs. But if you don't need advanced paper handling this printer is a great—and afford- able—choice.—M. David Stone >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 23 >FIRST LOOKS BUSINESS Peachtree Quantum 2010 10 users, $4,450 direct and up e ° PROS Strong job and inventory tracking. New transaction tracking. Excellent in-program help. Lets you easily view journal entries. Al- lows up to 40 simultaneous users. CONS Depth can make learning all the features difficult. No one-win- dow option. Peachtree Quantum 2010 Quantum is a Peach eachtree Quantum was intro- duced a few years ago with an eye toward businesses that have outgrown the original Peachtree Premium Account- ing. This group didn’t want to spend thou- sands of dollars, but they still need more data capacity and sophisticated features. Quantum serves this group well, with the ability to handle large data requirements and including advanced features. The 2010 edition adds a customizable dashboard, Order Process Workflow function, and more. Quantum is jam-packed with accounting expertise in a way that QuickBooks Enter- prise Solutions 9.0 can’t match. But despite Quantum’s ease of use and add-ons, it pales compared to the QuickBooks product, which beats it in both those regards. Peachtree Quantum isn’t difficult to use, although it’s not quite as simple and sleek s<_ 24 pc MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 as QuickBooks Enterprise. Quantum is, however, much more intuitive and under- standable than Sage BusinessWorks 50 Accounting 2009. Ina left vertical pane, the Quantum home page displays tabs repre- senting each functional area of the program, like Customers & Sales and Employees & Payroll. Click one, and the main window gives you an interactive, in-depth rundown of data and tasks related to that module. On the right-hand side of the screen is a list of inventory items, along with select reports. Peachtree also handles payroll well, with three levels that vary in the amount of assis- tance they give you and how much automa- tion they offer. And Peachtree's built-in help files are the most voluminous out there. If you're already using a junior Peachtree program and need more, I recommend you move up to Quantum 2010.—Kathy Yakal >>CLICK HERE FOR MOREFIRST LOOKS BUSINESS QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 9.0 Five users, $3,000 direct and e © PROS Excellent, intuitive in- terface. Powerful add-ons. Can combine reports from multiple company files. Handles up to 30 simultaneous users. CONS Weak inventory track- ing in main program. QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 9.0 Powerful Accounting for Growing Companies wees There comes a time when Edi- ry #1] kl tors’ Choice QuickBooks Pro and fate 2 premier, as capable as they are, aT just aren’t enough. When you're pushing the program’s database capabilities, you need more than a couple of simultaneous users, or your sales team is screaming for better opportunity and sales management tools, you know it’s time to move on. QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 9.0 can help with all these problems and more—for a reasonable price. QuickBooks Enterprise isn't quite as pow- erful as Peachtree Quantum, particularly in the area of inventory tracking. But it does offer much greater database and usage capacity than QuickBooks Pro and Premier, handling more than 100,000 customers. Version 9.0's home page displays an inter- active process map outlining the program's main tasks, like Purchase Orders, Create Sales Receipts, and Pay Employees. Click the Company Snapshot icon, and Quick- Books displays an orderly window that highlights key data from your files in mini- spreadsheets and graphs, like your Income and Expense Trend, Account Balances, and Customers Who owe Money. You can use either the home page or the icon bar as your navigational tool. Both take you to central pages for your work with cus- tomers, vendors, and employees. When used in conjunction with QuickBooks Enter- prise Suite, QuickBooks Enterprise Solu- tions 9.0 is the most powerful, customizable, and usable accounting solution in this price range.—Kathy Yakal >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 25 >>FIRST LOOKS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS Apple iPhone 3GS (AT&T) The Best Handheld PC Ever If you like apps or the Internet, go buy the iPhone 3G right now. The new model's improved processor and graphics chipset significantly boost the speed of everything from Web browsing to games, cementing the iPhone's role as the nation’s most flex- ible handheld computer. No, it still is not the world's best phone. But that’s never been the true goal of the iPhone line: Apple is devoted to bringing handheld comput- ing to the masses. And it's succeeding brilliantly. The phone's body is the same slab as ever (it’s available in either black or white), with one important change: an invisible “oleo- phobic” screen coating that repels grease and fingerprints, making watching videos on the phone much more enjoyable. The 320-by-480-pixel screenis slightly brighter, with a little more shadow detail. The iPhone 3GS also has increased storage capaci- ties (and prices) compared with the $99 8GB 3G: A 16GB model costs $199, anda 32GB one $299. Otherwise, it may appear there aren't many differences between the 3GS and the 36—but appearances can be deceiving, m= alls S<_28 pcmAcAziNE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 Apple has made it clear this phone is faster than the 3G, but not really how much faster. According to various independent. analyses (because Apple isn’t saying), the 3GS is only the second phone (along with the Palm Pre) to use an ARM Cortex-A8 pro- cessor. The graphics chip has been similarly boosted. And the results are very impres- sive, Boot time has dropped from 47 sec- onds with the original 3G to 20. Launching The New York Times app takes 8 seconds— it used to take 22. Action games such as Need for Speed Underground feel easier to play, with no stuttering and much smoother controls. The Internet is also faster, with network speeds in Safari raised from 550 Kbps to 900 Kbps. Web pages also render much more quickly. More power doesn’t mean shorter battery life. On our talk time test, the new iPhone scored 5 hours 27 minutes, very close to the original iPhone 3G. Aside from mixed results from the camera and its still- lackluster phone performance, the iPhone 3GS raises the bar for smartphone comput- ing, and is thus our Editors’ Choice. —Sascha Segan >>CLICK HERE FOR MORENew “cleophobic” screen repels grease ana ingerprints Apple iPhone 3GS (AT&T) $199,99-$299.99 list ee0 PROS Faster and more power- ful than the iPhone 3G. Excellent video camera mode. Brighter screen. More storage capacity. CONS Phone performance is still mediocre. Browser still lacks Flash. Still won't be IT managers’ first choice. AUGUST 2009. PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 27 >FIRST LOOKS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS Amazon Kindle DX More Screen, More Storage, More Money imply put, the Kindle Dx is a big- ger, higher-capacity, and more- expensive version of the wildly popular Kindle 2 e-book reader. The interface has the same dead- simple process of wirelessly download- ing books, as is the content offerings. The DX's extra-large electronic-ink screen is designed to make reading magazines and textbooks easier, and it does, but current Kindle 2 users shouldn't rush to upgrade. As for the rest of us, a netbook can be had for the same price—or less. Ofcourse, the biggest difference between the Kindle DX and the Kindle 2 is the size of the electronic-ink screen. Moving from a 600-by-800, 6-inch screen to an 824-by- 1,200, 9.7-inch display changes the reading experience from book-like to magazine- like. The device itself measures 10.4 by 7.2 by 0.38 inches (HWD), weighs 18.9 ounces, and feels incredibly thin. Another upgrade is the increased memory, up to 4GB from 268 (but still no memory card slot). One key improvement to the Kindle DX is the addition of an accelerometer. Like the iPhone, this Kindle can detect its orien- tation and rotate the screen accordingly. This feature lets you view documents, pho- tos, and charts in landscape mode. The DX s<_28 pc MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2008 Amazon Kindle DX $489 direct @00e0 PROS Bigger, better screen. Super-thin. 4GB capacity (3,500 books). Wide selection of books, magazines, and blogs. Buying new titles is dead simple with the free, integrated cellular modem. Text-to-speech capability. CONS Very expensive. No touch screen. Interface could be more intuitive. also adds native PDF and RTF file support. However, with the bigger format it’s hard not to want a color screen. For my money, the Kindle 2 is still the best e-book reader out there, but the DX is good for those who want more memory and a bigger screen —Dan Costa >>CLICK HERE FOR MOREFIRST LOOKS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS ‘Samsung PNSOB850 $2,299.99 list e ° PROS Thin panel design. Excellent color. Very good SD picture quality. Energy efficient. Tons of media features. CONS Below-average picture contrast in a dark environment. Some white-balance inconsistencies. No de-judder feature. Samsung PNSOB850 Samsung’s LE Superthin Plasma [=Py The term “flat-screen television” 1} Li has been used to describe any TV = witha screen that isn't curved like a classic tube TV. The Samsung t} PNSOB85O 1080p plasma, how- ever, is a true flat screen. At only 1.2 inches, it’s the thinnest big-screen TV currently available, and it has admirable picture qual- ity, loads of multimedia features, and impres- sive energy efficiency. This set is a strong reminder of plasma's unique strengths: It renders consistent color and contrast at wide viewing angles and produces detail that rivals the latest 240-Hz LCDs. The PNSOB850 has no distracting indica- tor lights, which is a welcome change. The amber-backlit remote control has clearly labeled buttons, solid tactile feedback, and snappy performance. This set also does a good job maximizing the number of inte- grated input connections, including four HDMI, one VGA, component video, RF, and Ethernet, and two USB ports. In addition to 148MB of internal storage available for per- sonal multimedia content, the PNSOB850 is also compatible with streaming content from a DLNA-compiiant server device. This TV’s Movie picture preset produced the most accurate color measurements | have ever recorded from an uncalibrated display. | was less impressed, however, with this preset’s white balance. The set's dark screen produced a well-contrasted picture in brightly lit rooms, and energy consumption is significantly less than that of other 50-inch plasma sets I've tested recently (224 watts in-use average). Aside from a few quibbles, this is the strongest plasma I've seen so far in 2009.—Robert Heron >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 29 >ZPC-GX31” Risk Free, call us at 888 vist cur web seal yr cybemaimancom, SSSerm Ry @ Eveerncy 2 28 garantie. is mara, h ern a asa nn Mavi a st CintaFIRST LOOKS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS LG BD390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player Fast, with Extra Features (=~ It’s been about three years since the first Blu-ray player arrived on store shelves. And aside from the Sony PlayStation 3, none has offered built-in wireless network- ing—until now, LG’s BD390 is the compa- ny's latest flagship unit and includes 802.1In Wi-Fi for easy access to BD-Live and sim- ple firmware updates. Some of LG's design choices here are questionable, but the play- er’s comprehensive networking and multi- media capabilities are undeniably useful. The player looks almost identical to its predecessor, the BD300, including the glossy split-face design and awkward-to- operate power and eject buttons. The sim- LG BD390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player $450 list ee0eeo PROS Fastest Blu-ray player on the market. Built-in 802.11n Network multimedia streaming including Netflix and YouTube. CONS Remote control feels flimsy for pa with a premium player. tail with default settings. plistic baton remote had only average tactile feedback and no backlit buttons. The BD390 supports a long list of multimedia file types, including JPEG, MP3, DivX and DivX HD, and MPEG-2 and -4. You can load these files via the USB port or a local network connection. The BD390 also supports YouTube and Net- flix video streaming, as well as CinemaNow’s online movie catalog. The player also comes equipped with 1GB of internal flash storage. On our tests, the BD390 showed the fast- est scores we've seen yet in a Blu-ray player, averaging a disc-load time of 26 seconds. Resolution and signal tests revealed excel- lent detail with standard- and high-def media, And the BD390’s performance with the HQV Benchmark DVD showed some relatively minor jagged edge artifacts that detracted from its otherwise good score. Its dated design and cheap remote aside, the LG BD390 is a solid Blu-ray player with some of the most comprehensive multime- dia support I've seen.—Robert Heron >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 31 >QUICK LOOKS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS By Preis cd eee0o * Chic styling + Stellar music and video playback + Robust GPS navigation PROS + Short battery life + Perplexing UI + Screen could use more pirels CONS The unlocked W995a is an attractive phone and an excellent media player, but its high, unsubsidized price will limit adoption. BOTTOM LINE ATST, T-Mobile; 2.6-inch, 320-by-240 LCD; 8.1MP camera; 3.8 by 1.9 by 0.6 inches (HWD); 4.0 ounces. SPECS LG enV3 Vx9200 $79.99-$269.99 list e ° += Great price for the feature set + Excellent design + Good all-around performance No 3.5mm headphone jack + Lackluster e-mail and IM programs The LG enV3 gives you great bang for your buck with its strong phone per- formance, full Keyboard, and threaded text messag- ing. Verizon; 2.6-inch, 320-by- 240 LCD; 3.0MP camera; 4.1 by 2.1 by 0.65 inches (HW); 3.7 ounces. << 22 pe macazINe DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 Sony Cyber-shot Dsc-T90 $299.99 direct ©o + Good image quality + Large, responsive touch soreen + Records high-def video + Fast start-up and recycle times + Poor battery life + Soft images in bright conditions * Proprietary USB connec tion The DSC-T90 is the least- expensive touch-screen camera on the market—and you get great images. Point-and-shoot; 12.1MP; video; Bluetooth; 2.3 by 3.7 by 0.6 inches (HWD); 5.3 ounces. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FK48 $349.95 direct e@e000 = Compact design + Wide-angle lens with 5X zoom «Captures HD video + Easy-to-use interface + Expensive + Some pictures can look soft LCD shows considerable ‘motion blur + Noticeable shutter lag ‘The pricey DMC-FX48 offers a lot of features for a point-and-shoot camera, but its image quality falls short. Point-and-shoot; 12.1MP; HD vidi inches (HWD); 1 by 3.8 by 0.9 .5 ounces.Coed Re BULL gE =~ ‘Sony Bravia KDL-46Z5100 Nextar 43LT Hercules XPS 2.0 60 OXX Digital Tube WiFi $2,599.99 direct $169.99 list $99.99 list Internet Radio Music Center $209.99 list ° @0000 @0000 @0000 + Excellent picture contrast + Good value = Balanced, crisp output + Excellent station selection + GreenTech Approved *Upgradeable maps and PO! + Articulate bass response —* Quality speakers with ++ Multimedia streaming database *Sleek design subwoofer + 240-Hz display technology —_* Easy to use « Adjustable treble and bass _* Easy to set up and operate + Free lifetime traffic Poorly optimized cinema Small initial PO! database + No remote control + Expensive picture preset *No turn-by-turn list view _» Distorts at high volumes» No aux input for iPods ‘Majority of HD-compatible + Can't save current location + Clock displays time only in ports on side of TV 24-hour format + Remote feels cheap This 46-inch, 240-HzLCD The 43LT isaworthy GPS, The XPS 2.060 sounds bet- Thoughts limitations are features an impressive butits lack ofa Bluetooth _ter than you'd expect froma certainly annoying, the Tube selection of streaming interface and a couple other $100 speaker system, but it boasts a quality 2.1 system multimedia features, but its features hold it back. has distortion issues at high and a fantastic station selec- cinema picture preset needs volumes. tion. some TLC. 46-inch LCD; 1,920 by 1,080 3D view; touchscreen Computer speakers; 2-chan- Wireless; 2.1 channel; 4.9 by native resolution; 60-Hz re- display; SD/MMC card slot; nel; 15-watts RMS per chan- 15.5 by 5.11 inches (HW). fresh rate; 16:9 aspect ratio; built-in speakers; supports nel; 8.3 by 4.1 by 5.1 inches 43.1 by 29.3 by 3.3 inches MP3 files; 3.9 by 2.9 by 0.9 (HWD) each. (HWD); 52.9 pounds. inches (HWD); 6.0 ounces. Visit pemag.com for the ful reviews ofthese and other consumer electronics products. AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 33 >FIRST LOOKS SOFTWARE The Sims 3 The Sims 3: Free to Be You and Me n the third version of this popular casual game, the Sims series has finally grown up. No longer are the Sims just digital action figures ina big dollhouse. The new customized characters have personalities, goals, and unique body types and hairstyles. The Sims themselves aren't the only thing overhauled in this release, either. The game mechanics have been changed to make it easier to cus- tomize your environments and surround- ings, giving users millions of ways to create the world of their choice. The game begins with Create-A-Sim, where you can control every aspect of your Sim’s appearance. If you don’t want to spend hours, you can choose Random or Pre-Made Sims. You get a palette of hair- color options, and if the 50 or so hairstyles in the game aren't enough for you, you can download more. The same control of minu- tiae is available when you're molding your Sim’s face. There are hundreds of different eye, nose, chin, ear, skin color combos avail- able, and you can pretty much sculpt a like- ness of anyone in the world. If you decide to make two Sims as a couple, you can even see what their kids would look like. << 24 pcmAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 Besides those options, the real difference between the Sims 2 and Sims 3 is the addi- tion of character traits and personalities. You can give your Sim five specific character traits, chosen from a list of 65 possibilities, such as ambitious, vegetarian, computer whiz, funny, mean-spirited, and so on. Based ‘on your five traits, you get a choice of five corresponding life goals. When you've fin- ished creating your Sim, you get $16,000 to set up house. You can buy an empty plot of land and build from scratch, buy an empty home, or buy a furnished home. If you pick the “ambitious” character trait, you can quickly move up the ladder at work. However, Work was the most boring part of the Sims 3, because you don’t really see what's happening—work hours are off-cam- era. While your Sims is gone, you can dec- orate your home and spend some money. Buying home furniture and appliances is done through an intuitive menu that shows items in a catalog-like view. The Sims 3 is great for both newcomers and long-time Sims players alike. All the customization makes this the most in-depth Sims yet—Dan Evans >>CLICK HERE FOR MORETHE SIMPLE LIFE Build your Sim from many body/clothes designs. A ust 2 PC or Mac, $49.95; iPhone or PROS Interface improvements. Finer controls for placing objects within a house. More character depth now available. ims now have life goals to work toward, not just dead- end jobs. CONS Items from the previous expansion packs not included in this version. You have to pay for cool downloadable items once your initial free online points run out. PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 35 >FIRST LOOKS SOFTWARE PROS Private browsing mode. Fast JavaScript performance ‘compared with previous ver- sion. Support for forward- looking Web standards. Most customizable browser. CONS Startup and JavaScript performance slightly trails ‘competition. Not much con- tent exists for the future stan- dards supported. Still doesn’t Pass Acid3 compatibility test. Firefox 3.5 Still the You'd be hard-pressed to tell Le how Firefox 3.5 differs from 3.0 gu by appearance, but a closer look Listed inside reveals significant updates. The new version really speeds up JavaScript performance and catches up with other browsers like Internet Explorer 8, Opera 10, and Safari 4 by adding a private browsing mode. And 3.5 builds on what made the previous Firefox versions great: the myriad extensions and themes, and awe- some address bar. The result? An impressive piece of software gets even better. Firefox's New Tab button takes a page from Internet Explorer and Opera’s play- book. You can also now grab a tab and drag it into a new window on the desktop—or drag a window back into the open browser. Also, Firefox can remove specific sites in your history (instead of “all or nothing”). S<_ 56 PcMAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 ret ae Pts) oe Er PC? sy Browser to Beat Support for the downloadable fonts fea- ture of CSS means fewer of those image-as- text sites that you can’t select and cut and paste. To help customize your Web experi- ence, Firefox lets you share your location with sites. One of Firefox 3.5’s touted new features is its fast TraceMonkey JavaScript engine. On the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, Firefox 3.5 posted a time of 2,413 millisec- onds (ms), considerably faster than ver- sion 3.0's 6,585 ms. It also tops IE8’s 10,281 ms and Opera’s 7,974 ms, but falls short of Chrome’s blindingly fast 1,817 ms. So although it’s not the absolute fastest, Firefox 3.5's respectable speed, combined with its customizability and support for new stan- dards secure its spot as our Editors’ Choice Web browser. —Michael Muchmore >>CLICK HERE FOR MOREGoogle Android 1.5 FIRST LOOKS SOFTWARE Google’s Android Marches On espite Android’s huge ini- tial promise, there's still just one U.S. smartphone running the OS: the T-Mobile G1. That device is now almost a year dant, since the Gl has a QWERTY keyboard, The new virtual keyboard is a little cramped compared with the iPhone's, and Android's doesn’t rotate to landscape mode. But it's certainly better than nothing, and you old—and it didn’t look particularly cutting edge when it was released. Luckily, that situation will soon change, as Motorola, Samsung, and others have promised to release Android handsets. But Google hasn't rested, either. Android 1.5 features a number of major enhance- ments, including video recording and playback, faster camera and GPS per- formance, and support for home-screen widgets. Col- lectively, it’s still not enough to overtake the iPhone. And Android 1.5 isn’t as flashy as Palm’s new, multitasking WebOS on the Palm Pre, either. But version 1.5 is a big step in the right direction. One of the most obvi- ous improvements is the new on-screen keyboard. At first, it may seem redun- eres New! Try My Location to find restaurants, shops, and bars near you! PROS Surprisingly useful on-screen keyboard. Fast, accurate voice search. Plenty of feature enhancements and minor bug fixes. CONS Disappointing video recorder. Multimedia support is still lacking. AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 37 >> always have the hardware keyboard for extended typing chores on the G1 One new feature that ought to wow Gl owners is Camcorder, a built-in video recorder. Unfortunately, it recorded dim, jerky 352- by-288 videos—worse than many smartphones. A few other enhancements include new home-screen widgets, Google Talk, a voice-enabled Google Search feature, and copy and paste. Two elements that are still missing are built-in Exchange server support and Adobe Flash capability. Despite its vari- ous omissions and disap- pointing video recorder, Android 1.5 is nonetheless a must-have update for G1 owners.—Jamie Lendino >>CLICK HERE FOR MOREQUICK LOOKS SOFTWARE ead Opera Mobile 9.7 Beta Skyfire 1.0 SnapTelll (for Android) (Windows Mobile) (Windows Mobile) Free Free Free eeee0 e @00 ‘Accurate page rendering + Supports AJAX, Flash, and» Provides direct links to + Transparent Ul Silverlight buy via your phone Supports multiple tabs Accurate desktop page _* Provides directions to and bookmark folders rendering focal retailers selling the 3° Clever zoom-view + Multiple navigation product, z options + Still no Flash support + Blurry fonts at some zoom _* Bar code scanning results + Page rendering issues levels are iffy with weak 3G signals *'No tabbed browsing + Needs to show more buy- Some sound and connec- ing options for each item tion-related glitches ‘CONS Opera continues to refine Skyfire offers powerful _—_SnapTell delivers product its powerful Windows Mo- AJAX and Flash site sup- information, prices, and bile Web browser—the trick port for Windows Mobile shopping links in a handy, is waiting for cell phones to devices, though Opera still efficient shopping app. catch up. wins for ease of use. BOTTOM LINE Product name in RED indicates Editors’ Choice. s<_ 28 pc MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009, TwitterBerry 0.8 (BlackBerry OS) Free e000 + Nails the basics + Free + Easy to use + Supports many Black- Berry devices + No search function + Drab Ul + Can't display BlackBerry alerts on home page ‘TwitterBerry works, espe- cially on older BlackBerrys; but those with new models should stick with Tweet- Genius.Hitman Pro 3.5 Netblox Microsoft Security eScan Internet Security $19.95 direct per year $149 direct; Essentials beta Suite for Home Users $75 per year after first year Free public beta Version 10 One user, $45.95; three users, $65.95 @@000 e ©0 @@000 ‘Tiny and fast download Blocks inappropriate Wed + Decent at removing and —_» Small impact on system + Five AV engines in the sites blocking malware performance cloud + Offers full remote configu» Small download + Endpoint protection limits Good malware detection ration + Simple user interface USB-transmitted malware ratio Can block IM by protocol» Free for personal use * Cleans browsing activity ‘+ Strong against rootkits Cleanup leaves behind + No per-user settings * Less effective against root- Serious trouble install- ‘many remnants + Filtering defeated by kits and scareware ing on malware-infested Lacks real-time protection HTTPS proxy Requires large amount of systems + Not effective against ‘Limited IM logging/fitter- disk space * Generates many false scareware ing, game controls *Forces Windows Update _—_positives += Diffcult-to-use activity into full automatic mode Firewall doesn't stealth all reports ports, is easily defeated Hitman Pro installs quickly Hardware-based Web filter- Focused solely on anti- eScan scored okay on mal- and goes after malware. inglets NETBLOX do things malware functions, Secu- _ ware removal and blocking Butno real-time protection no software-only solution _rity Essentials has average _ tests, but its proactive scan means itis best used with can, like filtering access for performance, which may _blocks many valid programs another anti-malware app. non-PC devices. But com- improve after beta. and generally has a long pared directly with software way to go. solutions, it's a flop, and the price is way too high. Visit pemag.com for the full reviews of these and scores of other software products. AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 39 >JOHN C. DVORAK Why Can’t Old Media Understand the Viral Effect? ome years back, as people began to understand the power and value of inter-com- puter networking, the Internet emerged and proved the point. We know now that the more interconnec- tions we have, the more valuable the sys- ‘tem, mainly because of the viral effect that happens. This concept stems from what we call Metcalfe’s law, named after Ethernet inven- tor and sometimes pundit, Bob Metcalfe. A Wikipedia entry uses fax machines as an example to describe the law: A single fax machine is useless, but the value of every fax machine increases with the total number of fax machines in the network, because the total num- ber of people with whom each user may send and receive documents increases. Metcalfe’s law is more of a heuristic or metaphor than an iron-clad empirical rule. << 40. PcMAGAzINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 The power of the viral effect is both good and bad. From the early days of the Inter- net we have noticed that it’s easy for false information to be spread all over the place. We've all seen online hoaxes in action—such as chain letters supposedly written by bed- ridden children. In the past, hoaxes were limited to what could be done via old media (Piltdown Man, the best recent example— look it up on Google). Chain letters did exist as snail mail but were slow to propagate, unlike today’s systems. ‘An Update to “Word of Mouth” On the positive side, the viral effect is defi- nitely good for marketing, And viral market- ing is faster, more effective version of what used to be called “word-of-mouth.” Old media cannot seem to adapt to this whole viral effect, or they cannot adapt fast enough. But let’s face it, they're still trying to get their arms around the whole concept of delivering information online in general,Newspapers have di ulty correcting online stories without shrouding them with apologies. and failing. For example, newspapers have a great deal of difficulty changing online stories without shrouding the issue with apologies and hand-wringing. Instead of simply changing the incorrect birthdate of some schlub cited in an article, the paper will apologize profusely for citing the wrong data and then tell of the real date. It’s still thinking in terms of print where you have to runa column of “corrections.” As one newspaper after another shrinks and goes online with a reduced staff, this sort of thing just gets worse. Generally speaking newspaper and magazine writers are designed and trained to work within a complex system of editors who fine-tune articles and often fact-check information for accuracy. These folks—and | include myself among them—were generally isolated from the actual public, the reader. When online writing began to emerge, along with the concept of the easy “com- ment,” two things happened. The first was that many writers who could write inside of a complex mechanism could not fare well without editorial boundaries. In general, they wrote articles that were too long and boring which are especially difficult to read online. But more interesting was the reaction to comments, many of which are written by troublemakers looking to get a rise out of their audience. It’s not well understood, but often those people commenting are the center of attention in a thread about the article rather than the article itself. This resulted in many newspapers refusing to allow comments at all Missing the Potential Positive Impact And now, the Associated Press and many newspapers are showing their ignorance of the viral effect and its potential value to them by attacking bloggers and other online users who “poach’ their stories despite the fact that there are always links back to the source. They actually reject the value of the viral effect, mostly because they do not understand its potential positive impact on their business. While we in the tech commu- nity love to ride the RIAA for being dummies regarding its understanding of both the net- work effect and simple modern marketing, the newspaper folks are just as vulnerable to this criticism. I'd like to have some sympathy because they are old media and many of those run- ning this old media are themselves old and missed the tech boat when it left the dock. But hey, I'm probably older than most of the people I'm talking about, so it's got nothing to do with age if you actually try to under- stand today's networking mechanisms. This isnot rocket science. DVORAK LIVE ON THE WEB John’s Internet TV show airs every Wednesday at 3:30 ET on Cranky- Geeks.com. You can download back episodes whenever you like. AUGUST 2009 PE MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 41 >>SASCHA SEGAN Learning from Iran’s Twitter Revolution ow did we have revolutions before Twitter? It seems like democracy is an inevitable result of Internet access, something that officials in Iran and China are now both fumbling with at their peril. As we watch both nations’ ham- handed efforts at cramming the Internet genie back into the bottle, it’s obvious that connected people are empowered people. If we consider democracy to be a priority in the U.S., we must make connectivity a prior- ity, too. Twitter to the People The most spectacular recent example of Internet empowerment is Iran. Protesters against the presidential election results organized and publicized themselves on Twitter, even as the Iranian government kept trying to whack the democratic mole by first shutting down text messaging, then blocking some IP addresses, then trying to hunt down individual Tweeters. Twitter has become such a critical tool in $< 42: pcmacAzINe DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 Iran that the U.S. State Department asked the company to delay some planned down- time because taking Twitter offline might have a political effect. One major key here is the combination of Internet tools and mobile phones. Mobile Internet means that people can communi- cate while actually out on the street—it pulls democracy out from behind closed doors. And mobile services like Twitter have many points of access, so they’re hard to block. A Record of Web Dissent This isn't the first “Internet revolution,” of course. Filipinos, famously, overthrew their government way back in 2001 with the help of text messaging. And earlier this year, Moldovans used Twitter to help organize anti-government protests. Net-powered democracy is a slowly growing snowball, not something appearing out of thin air. The Chinese government, meanwhile, seems to be starting to despair about its ability to stop citizens from chatting about gay people and Falun Gong. While theyA digital di ide in a society directly impacts how democracy is conducted. have a massive crew of censors scouring the Chinese Net for “ungoodspeak,” a col- lection of 162 million blogs written by 298 million Web users (according to the Associ- ated Press) is too massive for even the Chi- nese government's censorial prowess. Ina seeming panic, the Chinese govern- ment commanded that PC manufacturers install a censorship package called Green Dam, which can even cause local text edi- tors to crash if terms like “Falun Gong” are typed. But the Green Dam plan seemed poorly thought through, especially after a U.S. company, Solid Oak, revealed that con- siderable chunks of Green Dam had been pirated from their own Cybersitter product. China subsequently backed off a bit, delay- ing the rollout of Green Dam. Defining the Divide The vast majority of Tweeting and Friend- Feeding going on in Iran comes from oppo- sition supporters, who are more urban and wealthier than the Iranian population as a whole. What we're seeing online may not be a balanced debate. The lesson here is that a digital divide directly impacts how democracy is con- ducted, The people who are online get more of a voice than the people who aren't. We need to ask how we can get reliable Web access to the 27 percent of Americans (according to the Pew Internet & American Life project) who don't have it. How to Get There I'd love to say that dialup is just as effective as broadband. But just as the iPod popular- ized MP3 players by making digital music easy, broadband makes the Internet easy enough for many people to use. That means digital democracy has to be about broad- band, not just about the Internet. Lowering prices would help, as would getting alternatives out to rural areas that are currently oppressed by satellite broadband providers. That means push- ing forward the “white space broadband” proposals that the FCC approved a while ago, which were waiting for the DTV tran- sition to take shape. It also means taking a newly positive attitude towards muni Wi-Fi and making sure that wireless carriers don’t overcharge or place content controls on their upcoming 4G wireless networks Right now, the FCC is considering put- ting together a “national broadband plan.” They're going to dole out $7.2 billion in stim- ulus money over the coming months and present a comprehensive report to Con- gress by next February. As China and Iran are proving that Internet-connected people are powerful people, the U.S. should pursue a plan that doesn’t look at universal broad- band as a corporate profit center, but rather asa keystone of democracy. ‘STAY PHONE-SMART Keep up with the latest ‘on smartphones by reading Sascha’s column at go.pcmag.com/segan. AUGUST 2009 PE MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 43 >DAN COSTA Apple’s Cheap Tricks Oo one can question the beauty, functionality, and geek appeal of Apple's products. The problem has always been price: they cost so damn much. The so-called “Apple Tax” has been around for so long that it is the stuff of legend, though it certainly has not hurt the company’s fortunes much. In fact, you could make a strong case that Apple's premium pricing has actually saved the company. But these are tough economic times. At the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, Apple showed a new- found willingness to compete on the value field, with lowered prices that seem if not insane, then profoundly out of character. This is enough to make me wonder whether Apple is finally ready to break out of its tiny, elite market and go mainstream. Apple’s Slashing Prices Perhaps the most dramatic move is the slashing of the MacBook Air price. The 1.8- GHz MacBook Air now costs just $1,499—a price cut of $300. If that won't spur sales, I don’t know what will. For that matter, an << 44: PemAcazine DIGITAL EoiTION AucUsT 2009 SSD model can be had for just $1,799. That is not cheap, but it’s a far cry from the $2,000- plus premiums Apple is used to charging. And the bargain prices aren't limited to products of great beauty—but question- able utility—like the MacBook Air. The Mac- Book Pro also got some serious price cuts. For example, the 15-inch MacBook Pro now starts at $1,699, compared to the $1,999 it cost just a couple months ago. Better still, the company cut the price of a 13-inch Mac- Book to $1,199. Compare that to the $1,599 retail price for its predecessor, the Mac- Book 13-inch Aluminum, And don’t forget that the new version includes better, faster components that have earned it the Mac- Book Pro moniker! That speed bump and $400 price drop is enough to make it our Editors’ Choice. Granted, Windows users will probably go for an even cheaper (sub- $1,000), almost-as-capable system like the Acer Aspire 3935, but it is clear that Apple is making its systems affordable for a whole new group of users. iPhone for the Masses Perhaps the biggest price bomb dropped at WWDC was Apple's lowering of the 8GB.Now that the Apple Tax has been trimmed, a lot more people will find it worth paying. iPhone 3G to just $99, calling it the iPhone 3GS. Way to pee on the Palm Pre parade. That new “potential” iPhone killer is still $199, but that’s after a $100 mail-in rebate. Here Apple will have its cake and eat it too: High-end Apple fanatics will snatch up the iPhone 3GS, while value customers can still get in for the price of a BlackBerry Curve. If you're an AT&T subscriber, there's no reason not to get an iPhone. Well, as long as you're cool with the virtual keyboard. Buy Now, Pay Later But that AT&T contract is still the deal- breaker for a lot of people, either because of an existing contract with another carrier or due to the weakness of the AT&T wire- less network. Gather a few hundred iPhone users in one cell area (say, SXSW 2009) and performance starts to crawl. And remem- ber, it is also pretty expensive to own an iPhone when you factor in the cost of a data plan and the text messages. At the Palm Pre announcement in New York City, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse estimated that own- ing a Palm Pre would cost nearly $1,200 less than owning an iPhone over two years, just because of the monthly charges. Then again, two years is along time. That comes out to just over $1.60 per day—the price of your morning coffee at Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts. Even ina recession, it seems clear that people are not willing to give up their morning coffee fix or their iPhones. Add to that the fact that the $99 purchase price of an iPhone is just one stop at the ATM or the swipe of acredit card. Apple’s Motives Why is Apple doing this? The economy is certainly one reason. Its also fair to say that Microsoft may have hit a sore spot with its TV commercials showing regular people shopping for computers and always leav- ing with a Windows machine—and money still in their pocket. Once upon a time, there was just no denying that Apple products are more expensive. (Although you may have noticed that no one ever buys a $400 netbook in those ads; they all want a 17-inch screen and Blu-ray drive. Yeah, right.) Speaking of netbooks, you have to won- der just how long Apple can sit on the side- lines as people get comfortable with the idea of a $400 notebook. Netbooks are already 20 percent of all notebook sales and that number isn’t going to drop. Net- books make the perfect second system, and I know several Mac users who have bought a Windows XP netbook just because they didn’t have any other choice. For the most part, Apple products still cost more than competing Windows-based machines. But now that the Apple Tax has been trimmed to a reasonable size, a lot more people will find it worth paying. ‘TALK BACK TO DAN E-mail your thoughts to dan_costa@pcmag.com. AUGUST 2009 PE MAGAZINEDIGITAL EDITION 45 >raat KS, It’s always something. You're leaving the office for a week or two and just want to get a few things done while traveling. But your lap- top battery refuses to last that extra, crucial hour. Or the clunky key- board on your smartphone makes answering e-mails a nightmare. Or the 3G network you've chosen is just too spotty. Maybe youneed a mobile-tech makeover. A host of new products promise to help you stay productive. We've tested them all; here are our top picks.ter Slut laut RTS) gob Wui foley zealot PISNCUMG reyIn this economy, affordability is just as important as portability. The timing couldn't be better for netbooks, which are powerful, inexpensive, and lightweight. They generally have 8-to-10- inch widescreens and lack built-in optical drives. Very few (the exception is the Toshiba mini NB205) have full-size keyboards, so expect a more cramped typing experience than with a mainstream laptop. You will find an abundance of USB ports, a webcam, a card reader, and built-in Wi-Fi. Some even have bonus features like ExpressCard slots, Bluetooth, and options for cellular modems. Most every netbook has adopted the Intel Atom platform, made up of the Atom processor, integrated graphics, and 512MB to 1GB of RAM.—Cisco Cheng Acer Aspire One (D250-1165) $300 street ($350 for the six-cell configuration) e@e0e0 Acer’s best-selling netbook is now even thinner and lighter, but not more expensive. The Aspire One (0250-1165) has considerably less plastic than its predecessor, the Aspire One (10-inch), and is only 0.8 inch thick. But it keeps the original Intel Atom parts and the below-average (89 percent) key- board. Still, the street price is tough to beat.—CC 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270; 1 GB RAM; 160 GB hard drive; Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950; 802TIg wireless; 2.4 pounds; MS Windows XP Home. CLICK HERE FOR MORE << 42 Pcrsncazine DIGITAL EDITION AUCUST 2009 Product name in RED Inccaes Ector Choice.Asus EeePC 1000HE $399 street eooeo What made this an Editors’ Choice before the Toshiba IB205 came along was its el- egantly tucked-away six-celll battery, revamped keyboard, and the fact that it was first to use the Intel Atom N280—all at a low price. It's still a terrific choice, though the Toshiba model outshines it in trendy design and keyboard size—CC 1166 GHz Intel Atom N280; 1 GB RAM 160 GB hard drive: intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950; 802.1in wireless 3.2 pounds; MS Windows XP Home. Fujitsu M2010 $489 direct e000 —} With one of the most vivid and color-rich i 10-inch widescreens in the industry and a gorgeous design, the M2010 certainly is worthy of turning heads. But its price tag and low battery scores (with its three-cell bat- tery) make it fall behind the competition —CC 6 GHz Inte! Atom N270; 1 GB RAM; 160 GB hard drive; Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950; 802.1la/g wireless; 2.5 pounds; MS Windows XP Home HP Mini 110 (1030US) $329 direct @0000 The HP Mini 110 (1030US) incorporates many elements we loved about the Mini 1000 with a few minor improvements and a significantly lower price tag. The Atom processor is the same, but the 60GB, 4,200-rpm spinning drive has been revved up. Add onto that improve- ments like the addition of an Ethernet port, and you have a solid deal.—Nicole Price Fasig 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270; 1 GB RAM; 160 GB hard drive; Intol Graphics Media Accelerator 950; 802.N1g wireless; 2.6 pounds: MS Windows XP Home. K HERE MORE AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 49 >MSI Wind U123 (003US) $385 street @0000 The U123 is a decent followup to the original MSI Wind, which nabbed the first-ever Editors’ Choice in the net- book category. Its 87Wh battery is the biggest battery yet found on a netbook, though it adds an unsightly hump on the bottom. Performance- wise, it falls short of the competition. —CC 1.67 GHz Intel Atom N280; 1 GB RAM; Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950; 180219 wireless; 3.2 pounds, MS Windows XP Home. Toshiba mini NB205 $399 street eee Fry By watching and waiting, 11H Toshiba realized from the 4 competition that a small keyboard won't cut it, small batteries are a thing of the past, and design is the ultimate differen- tiator. As a result, the mini NB205 delivers on all counts—at a reason- able price—and nabs our Editors’ Choice.—cc 167 GHz Intel Atom N280:1 GB RAM: 160 GB hard drive; Intel Graphics Media Accel- erator 950; 802g wireless; 29 pounds, MS Windows XP Home. ‘50 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009The thumbs have spoken: smartphones are the fastest-growing part of the handheld mar- ket. As much personal PCs as communications tools, smartphones are capable of running thousands of apps—from 1,600 in the BlackBerry App World up to the 50,000 available for Apple's iPhone. If you can’t find an app, you can use your smartphone to tap into the Web, or calla friend. We suggest you choose your carrier before you choose your smartphone, so ask your friends and neighbors which carrier has the best coverage and call quality near you. Then pick your OS: email-centric BlackBerry, app-tastic Apple, diverse Windows Mobile, Google’s Android, or Symbian, which is popular in Europe.—Sascha Segan rer) TT SHRO| veh) ca ha Product name in RED indicates Editors" Choice, Apple iPhone 3GS (AT&T) $199-299 list e © ‘An improved processor and graphics chipset have raised the iPhone to a whole new level, boosting the speed of everything from Web browsing to games, and making it, hands down, the most flexible handheld computer in the USS. Sure, it still has a few flaws, such as lack- luster phone quality. But as a whole package, the iPhone remains an industry game changer. Apple set out to bring handheld computing mainstream, and the iPhone 3GS is just one more step in that direction.—SS HTC Snap (Sprint) $149-399 direct @e0e0o The HTC Snap is a business-oriented, low-cost, Windows Mobile smartphone. It’s not a standout in any way, but it’s a solid device that offers brisk perfor~ mance.—Jamie Lendino AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 51 >Nokia E71x (AT&T) $0-$399 list e000. At $149.99 with a two-year contract, the E71x is one of AT&q’s best smartphone deals. A variant on the Editors’ Choice-winning unlocked E71, this handset is a strikingly slim, classy- looking phone with excel- lent e-mail and Web sup- port—all at half the price of competing handsets.—SS CLICK HERE FOR MORE 2 en a @ stk nied See le 4248 8 ot a & Palm Pre (Sprint) $299-$549 direct e @o Palm is back—and with the cool- est handheld device we've seen in a long time. The Pre is the start of something genuinely new: Palm's innovative webOS. More webOS phones are coming this year, so if the Pre doesn’t quite do it for you, hang in there.—SS- CLICK HERE FOR MORE s<_ 52 pcMAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 (T-Mobile) $199-$349 list eooe0 The Curve 8900 juices up the already excellent Curve form factor with a sharper screen, faster processor, and better camera, letting it jump through new multimedia hoops while still help- ing you get your work done. If you need to stay connected, this Curve is the simplest and most stylish way to do it on T-Mobile.—SS CLICK HERE FOR MORE RIM BlackBerry Bold (AT&T) $299-$549 list eeeeo The Bold is an excellent executive smartphone with a gorgeous screen, reliable e-mail, Microsoft Office document editing, and a ter- rific media player. Our one nit is its troubled Web browser, which still struggles to load pages that contain JavaScript. —SS CLICK HERE FOR MORE RIM BlackBerry Tour (Verizon) $269 direct @00eo The new BlackBerry Tour 9630 is a remix of many of the best BlackBerry features on the market today packed into beautiful hardware. It’s the benchmark for business smartphones, as well as being an excellent music player and a terrific tool for social networking. My unit was a little buggy, but the Tour is still the best smartphone on Verizon Wireless.—SS CLICK HERE FOR MORE AUGUST 2009. PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION $3. >RIM BlackBerry Storm 9530 (Verizon) $269-$499 direct eee Major updates to its handheld and desktop software have fixed the Storm’s most frustrating bugs and filled in many gaps, making this a phone we can finally recommend. Its large touchscreen is capacitative (detecting electricity from your fin- gers) and easy to view outdoors bright light. It also offers fast Inter- net service and solid GPS.—SS CLICK HERE FOR MORE Battle of the 3G Networks The buzz this summer over the Palm Pre and the Apple iPhone 3GS has been inces- sant, but two things may cool down these red-hot smartphones: their networks. In the U.S., the Preis only on Sprint, and the iPhone is exclusive to AT&q. Trouble is, although both carriers have large nationwide 3G data networks, neither has placed well in surveys ranking call quality, network quality, and customer service, Both Sprint and AT&iT are bested by the third national 3G data network: Verizon Wireless. To compare the three national 3G networks, we looked closely at their coverage maps, tested network speeds with USB modems, scrutinized product lines and tech- nologies, and gave heavy weight to two surveys conducted in mid-2008: our own Service and Reliability Survey (S&R) and the JD Power and Associates customer sat- isfaction survey. Here’s how they stack up.—SS AT&T Mobility 3G High- Sprint Wireless High- Verizon Wireless High- Speed Data (HSDPA) Speed Data (EV-DO) Speed Data (EV-DO) @0000 e0ee0o eo AT&T has a terrific range of Sprint's high-speed network —_ Verizon works hard to build handsets running ona very _has decent coverage and a great network, resulting in advanced network technolo- _ is fast—when it works. The _the nation’s best 3G expe- gy, but its coverage doesn’t company has committed to __ rience. But the company measure up to Verizon's. solving its well-known cus- _ always seems a little behind tomer service problems. the curve when it comes to top smartphones. >>CLICK HERE FOR MORE, S<_ 54 pcHAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009B MODEMS Acellular modem will let you and your laptop tap into the high-speed wireless 3G networks that blanket the U.S., so you can surf the Web and download files at broadband speeds any- where you can use your cell phone. Over the past couple of years, modems have become more compact, compatible, and flexible, but you do have to pay for the device itself along with cellular broadband service that'll cost you from $40 to $60 a month.—SS- AT&T USBConnect Quicksilver $249.99 list e000 This fast, compact, easy-to-use modem, made by Option Wireless, is the best way to connect your laptop to AT&T's high-speed HSDPA network. It will get you online in hundreds of countries worldwide.—SS CLICK HERE FOR MORE Sierra Wireless 598U (Sprint) $249.99 list e0ee0 The Sierra Wireless 598U modem is the fastest way to get onto Sprint's zippy EV-DO Rev A3G network with your computer. And it comes free (with a service contract, of course).—SS CLICK HERE FOR MORE Product name in RED indicates Estos Choice. AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITALEDITION 55 >Novatel Ovation MC760 (Verizon) $269.99 list eoc0eo Cute as a button and far more use- ful, the Novatel Ovation MC760 modem for Verizon Wireless ($269.99 list; $99.99 and up contract) is the best choice for con- necting to Verizon’s nationwide 3G network. Not only is it the smallest modem Verizon offers, but it’s also the fastest, based on our speed tests.—SS CLICK HERE FOR MORE Cricket USB Broadband Modem A600 $69-$119 street eee00 Cricket’s no-contract, no-commitment $40-per- month EV-DO service is the best deal in cellular broadband you can find. The low-cost carrier's new USB Broadband Modem A600 provides a few more features than the older UMI00 model, although the new modem wasn’t any faster on my tests.—SS CLICK HERE FOR MORE SS 56 PcMAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009PORTABLE PROJECTORS Remember when a portable projector weighed “only” 10 pounds? Today’s smallest projec- tors are nothing short of amazing, weighing anywhere from 4 ounces to a pound. Some can sit on your palm, and others even fit comfortably in a shirt pocket. These small-size projec- tors aren't suitable for giving presentations to large groups or showing movies ina home theater, but they're perfect companions to a digital camera, cell phone, or iPod. They let you show off your photos at much larger sizes. Simply plug in a cable and point the projector at any handy light-colored surface—a wall, a table top, or a piece of paper.—M. David Stone The Ben@ Joybee GP1 $500 street eco FTA] The Joybee GPt is the ELE! kind of product that stands out in a crowd. It’s not perfect, but for the moment at least, it’s the most impressive example of its breed—the palmtop (also known as pocket-size) projec tor. And it offers some highly pleasant surprises that help it..ummm...outshine its com= petition. —MDS CLICK HERE FOR MORE Samsung P410 $749 list e oO Designed as an ultra-portable data projector, the P410 delivers a bright image and high volume, and it can read files directly from a USB memory key.—MDS CLICK HERE FOR MORE Product name in RED indicates Editors’ Choice. AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 57 >Nine Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do in IE8 There’s a lot to love about Internet Explorer 8. New features are easily accessible, but in case you missed some of them, here’s our list of favorites. By Edward Mendelson f you're a fan of Internet Explorer, chances are you're using IE8 by now. Microsoft got many things right when it released the new browser version back in March, and one of them was the way it made most of IE8's nif- tiest features easily accessible. You don’t have to explore the menus very deeply to find new features, but we've put together some tips about features that you may not have noticed, and we've added one impor- tant tip that Microsoft won't tell you about at all—how to add powerful ad blocking to IE8. s<_58 pcMAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2000 Select text with the keyboard. In older versions of IE it was often dif- ficult or impossible to select exactly the text you wanted to copy into an e-mail or a document. When you dragged the mouse to select text, you often selected adjacent paragraphs or columns also, even though you didn’t want them. IE8 finally solves this problem by imitating Firefox's “caret browsing” feature, in which you select text by moving the arrow keys. Just press F7, or Page | Caret Browsing, and use the arrow keys or other navigation to find the place in the text where you want to start copying; hold down the Shift key and use the arrows or other navigation keys to extend the selection. Ctrl-C then copies the selected text to the clipboard. It would have been nice if Web browsers used F8 (the “extend selection” key in Microsoft(i Ue el The ins and outs ONeill Office) instead of F7 for this feature, but you can’t have everything. In the bad, not-so-old days before Internet Explorer followed Web standards as closely as it does now, many Web developers designed their sites to display cor- rectly in Internet Explorer, using IE's proprietary layout methods. In IE8, these sites typically display with some Go back to the future with Ciel liad NDA sau ets Ret ae RN) can protect yourself Tew ween x fay 1G) socer |B cooge Tresiote [SA Servet Ge ni Accertere > lad savas 3 SardPageby Eo 5) Ser rk by ol. eget mecontt sarezsen Web 2 B company yew Corman ew Senge & goon aS rege sue Mts ending ~ caretonsng 2 operas CARET BROWSING Using the arrow keys, you can easily se- lect only the text you want. Cot Crue Mae Ente M i cma automatically, go to Page | Compatibility View Settings and clear the check box next to Include updated website lists from Microsoft. The list is updated monthly, and you can find the current list (in Excel format) by search- ing the Web for “Windows Internet Explorer 8 Compat- ibility View List.” The down- load page should be near the top of the list of hits. with InPrivate 3 Browsing. Hide your tracks elements overlapping oth- ers or with similar layout errors. Make those sites appear as their designers intended by using Page | Compatibility View. You can make IE8 always display a site in Compat- ibility View by adding its address to Page | Compatibility View Settings. Microsoft maintains a list of sites that need Compatibility View, and IE8 automati- cally switches to Compatibility View for sites on the list. You can tell if you're visit- ing one of those sites: Compatibility View will be grayed out on the Page menu. If you don’t want IES to turn on Compatibility View 1E8 is confusing in that it uses the /nPrivate label for two different fea- tures, both accessible from the Safety menu, There’s “InPrivate Browsing” and “InPrivate Filtering.” InPrivate Browsing lets you surf the Web without storing traces of your visits on your own computer in the form of cook- ies, history items, or cached pages. Believe it or not, there are uses for this mode that you won't be embarrassed to talk about with your family: For example, you might want to hide your tracks when you shop for birthday presents for a spouse or child who might be curious about your browsing history. When AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 59 >>Ce SOLUTIONS INTERNET EXPLORER 8 Sa pomag.com, We Foverites iy B) 20 SB Google “wr Yahoo mm sec |[Db>cmagenne -Computr, Sftnare, Hardware and. enc WITHOUT A TRACE InPrivate Browsing allows you to surf the Web without leaving a trail of cookies, history items or cached pages behind, you're browsing privately, a blue “InPrivate” icon appears in the address bar. e-tune privacy with InPrivate ering. The other privacy feature is InPrivate Filtering. This prevents Web pages from dis- playing ads that have also been shown on other sites you've visited, ads that may have tracked your browsing to continue their assault on you. You can use Safety | InPrivate Filtering to turn on this feature for the cur- rent page, but you're better off using Safety ACCELERATE THE EXPERIENCE The accelerator feature allows you to perform numerous opera- tions on selected text, such as finding definitions or displaying related maps. camera. s<_ 60 PcMAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2008 Don't Shoot in Auto! How to Take Better Pictures Here are some top tips for just about anyone who us|) soa nth Windom ive Odiecuss Total poste: Are you a digital IMBIBE, too scared to tun of the AY 2 ap wthtne seach moe on your ane new camera? Think fe a nine support group. 1 wa camera can really do. And f log wth Windows Le whole lot more important t 7 eet wth Wied ve Lets start by thinking abou eae type of digital camera. Be pee tie sions | InPrivate Filtering Settings and choosing Automatically Block. The same settings dia- log lets you set the threshold for the number of sites in your browsing history in which a specific item has appeared; the default is 10, so any item that appears on 10 or more sites gets blocked. I've changed that setting to 3, the lowest available setting, to increase my privacy as muchas possible. Add more accelerators. When you select anything ona Web page, IE8's accelerator feature dis- plays a double-arrow icon next to the selec- tion. If you click on this icon IE pops up a list of “accelerators” —tiny bits of code that per- form operations on the selected text, such as translating it in Google Translate, display- ing a map of a place, or any of dozens of other functions. (You can also access your accelerators by right-clicking anywhere on. a page and choosing them from the context menu.) IE8 comes with some Microsoft-cen- tric accelerators by default, but you'll prob- ably want to install third-party versions as [Bose wah cone, DB mat th Woden Live © mop wth Goorle Mops uLta start exnioninn whi £8 Search wth Google AE search vith ive Search, “W Seorch wth Yahoo! 5 Trandate wthve seach 2 sewch wth cooge *%y Tarde wth ive Seach | re Mae Acar tors A acclratrs B_ranae hearts.replacements or additions. To add accelerators, use Tools | Manage Add-Ons; click on Accelerators, then Find More Accelerators. From the same Man- age Add-Ons dialog you can also right-click on any installed accelerator and disable or remove it. | replaced most of the Microsoft- centric accelerators with Google-based alternatives. & and third-party filters. One reason | switched my default browser from IE to Firefox was that | could install an ad-blocking extension. IE8 doesn't support a similar add-on, but with a bit of effort, you can get almost the same level of stress-reducing ad blocking in IE8 that you can get in Firefox—using only IE8's built-in features. It’s a three-step process First, turn on InPrivate Filtering by using Safety | InPrivate Filtering Settings and select Automatically Block. Click OK. Next, add a Registry setting that turns on InPrivate Filtering by default so that you don't have to turn it on every time you start up IE8. In Notepad, create a text file with these three lines: Block ads with InPrivate Filtering Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 CHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\Safety\PrivaclE] “StartMode”=dword: 00000001 Save this file to your desktop with aname like “FilterOn.reg”; right-click on it; choose Merge. TT 8 nny vat mal vetnestt ota ttn seeds Sthictuttcesoepoear Fyescetshastcouwe plow ta Sipmssamma Sica Scat == Ss, ae Ee a ——— a a, Se Berean aaa] — Cae) Gee) BLOCK AD TRACKING You can block ads that are following you and tracking you from one site to another. Next, search the Web for files named Adblock for IE8.zip or EasyListlE8.zip, or search for “ie8 adblock xml list” or similar strings. You are looking for links to down- loadable XML files converted from recent filtering lists created for Firefox’s AdBlock Plus. Download one or more of these XML files to your desktop—you can use more than one without problems—and look at the files in Notepad to make sure that they're standard text files and not a dangerous executable program (scan them with your antivirus app first, just in case). In IE8, go to Tools | Manage Add-Ons, and click on InPri- vate Filtering. Click the Import button, navi- gate to your downloaded XML file and click Open. IES will take a few seconds to process the list. Click Close. Now visit any normally ad-heavy site and enjoy the view of the site with few or no ads. AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 61 >Ce SOLUTIONS INTERNET EXPLORER 8 Try out Suggested 7 sites, lE8’s Suggested Sites feature offers links to sites that may interest you, based on your browsing history. When you switch this feature on, using Tools | Suggested Sites, IE8 sends a list of the addresses you visit to Microsoft, and Micro- TOOLBARS YOUR WAY You can right-click your Favorites toolbar to change things like the lenath of the titles in the these settings packs more items into the Favorites bar than the Long Titles setting. The traditional top-line Menu Bar and the new Command Bar (the one at the right above the main window) duplicate many of these functions. Right- click in the menu area, and uncheck one of these to see soft sends back a list of _ bar. suggestions. You view the suggestions by clicking the Favorites tool- bar and choosing See Suggested Sites. Personally, | don't like sending my browsing history to Microsoft, and | found in testing that the suggestions tend to be sites | know about already, But if you're exploring some new and unfamiliar subject, it may be worth turning this feature on while you visit sites that cover the subject. Customize the toolbars. 8 Sy aeianeae Wieland knows the mantra “right-click every- where.” When you right-click in the toolbar or tab bar in IE8, you can find options that make the browser look and work the way you want it, not the way Microsoft thinks you want it. For example, right-click in the Favorites toolbar, choose Customize Title Widths, and switch from the default Long Titles setting to either Short Titles, which displays the first few letters of the name of each link in the Favorites bar, or to Icons Only, which does what it says. Either of s<_ 62 pcMacAziNe DIsITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 if you can manage without it. Feel free to experiment. If you turn off the Menu Bar, you still access its commands by pressing the traditional key~ board shortcuts that open items on the top- line menu: Alt-F for File, Alt-E for Edit, Alt-V for View—or just Alt to open the Menu bar. Explore the status bar. oj Tired of drilling down through IE's menu structure to find the feature you need? Try clicking in different places on the status bar at the foot of the win- dow to find quick access to some other- wise hard-to-find controls. You'll have to explore this for yourself, because the vari- ous square-shaped regions in the status bar aren't labeled. But you'll find that a click in one region brings up a menu that lets you turn the pop-up blocker on and off, while a click in another region lets you check a sus- picious-looking Web site to see if Microsoft has marked it as unsafe. Other regions in the status bar let you access the Zoom feature quickly, or check or change the status of InPrivate Filtering.SOLUTIONS AT WORK Should You Be Doing Your Payroll Online? More accurate than a ledger sheet and more usable than a spreadsheet, online payroll services can save you an enormous. amount of time and pain. By Kathy Yakal t's Saturday morning, and while the sunis shining, birds are chirping, and your kids are frolicking in the yard, you're sitting in your office sweat- ing next week’s payroll. Or you're writing a check to your payroll service, won- dering once again if you can continue to jus- tify that expense in this economy. But here’s some good news: There’s a third alternative, one that’s been catching hold: Sites that handle payroll for you, with minimal input from you. These sites automate the three tasks you're charged with when managing your payroll: 1. GENERATING THE PAYROLL. Online pay- roll sites do all of the calculations required to determine your employees’ gross pay, taxes, and other withholding (deductions for things like health insurance), and net pay. 2. PAYING YOUR TAXES. Fail to do this and you'll face steep fines from the government. Online payroll sites calculate the taxes you ‘owe to government entities and help you pay them. 3. FILING FORMS, You're not done just because you've satisfied your tax liabilities— you owe forms that report them. Online payroll sites have you covered here. Why Online Payroll? If you're already using small-business accounting software to manage your pay- roll, you know the benefits. You're already automated, so you probably don’t want to change. And your payroll data is integrated with your other financial information. But if you're still doing payroll by hand, you'll find plenty of advantages to using an online service: * SPEED. How much time are you spend- ing each week (or every other week) on payroll? If you switch to managing it online, you'll be able to initiate a payroll run in just a AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 63 >eee OTN AT WORK (2 Let These Services Do the Work for You There are many online payroll sites out there. Here are three of our favorites. sy Payments conte Intuit Online Payroll (Fall 2008) Free first 3 months; $29.95/monthly after that @0000 This brand-new service has an attractive design and offers an exceptional interface, navigation features, and setup process—all of which you'd expect from Intuit. But the service shows that it’s still undergoing a few growing pains by supporting e-filing and e- payment of taxes for only one state. CLICK HERE FOR MORE few minutes—really. Once setup is done, all you need to dois enter the hours that hourly workers put in, and add any special pay for overtime, vacation, and bonuses. Online payroll services track vacation and sick pay, so you'll know what an employee is due. + STAFF TIME SAVINGS. Whoever manages your payroll is probably devoting too much time to it. Automate it and spend time build- ing your business, not counting the hours. + MINIMAL NEED FOR INPUT. Just enter a few numbers. + NO MANUAL CALCULATING. Online payroll services are giant calculators; they do all the required math. << 64 PcHAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 PayCycle Plus (Fall 2008) $42.99 monthly; unlimited payroll runs @e000 With PayCycle Plus, you'll encounter no extra charges—the fee you pay covers everything you need. The service handles worker’s comp, and tax setup is nicely streamlined. Navigational and setup tools are good, although not at the level of those offered by Intuit Online Payroll. CLICK HERE FOR MORE + ACCURACY. As long as you've done setup accurately and entered all hours correctly, there's no chance of an error. + EASY REPORTING. How do you calculate your payroll liabilities now, and keep tabs on how they relate to your overall cash flow? Online payroll services offer numerous reports, such as Tax Liability and Workers’ Compensation, so you'll always know where you are. + REMINDERS. You'll never miss a tax dead- line or sweata last-minute payroll, thanks to the timely to-do lists these sites offer. + EASY TAX PAYMENTS. One of the best reasons to use online payroll sites. Not onlyee ‘SurePayroll (Fall 2008) $44.95 direct; Weekly, $18.95; bi-weekly or semi-monthly, $30.95 ee0000 Business owners will be relieved by SurePay- roll’s ability to handle all federal and state payroll filings without user intervention. But additional fees can make the service expen- sive, and the help system is not as good as that of PayCycle Plus. CLICK HERE FOR MORE do they remind you to pay your regularly scheduled taxes, but, at minimum, they pro- vide signature-ready forms with your data poured. Services like SurePayroll just takes care of the whole shebang for you without any intervention. sINTEGRATION. Payroll is only one slice of your accounting pie, and its numbers need to be integrated with the rest of your finan- cials. Online payroll sites accommodate this by exporting payroll data to popular small- business accounting software like Quick- Books. + EMPLOYEE ACCESS. Wasting too much time answering employee questions about past pay periods? Online payroll sites let your employees have access to pay-stub information on password-protected sites. Getting Started Aswith any financial application, you'll need to spend some time on setup. Round up the information you'll need to get started 1.An employee list, including contact information 2. Any direct-deposit data 3. Company benefits info 4, Payroll information for employees (tax withholding, benefits participation, and soon) 5. Company tax identification numbers, like FEIN (federal employer identifica- tion number) and EIN (employer identi- fication number) 6. Your company pay policies How long before you can process your first payroll? Not as long as you'd think. Some payroll services let you run a payroll the day you set up your system. Payroll applications use wizards or menus to walk you through the setup process. Tech- nical support, too, is readily available during this process. Once you've laid this ground- work, you can forget about payroll until it’s time to runa cycle, or until taxes are due. Payroll is—arguably—your most critical financial liability. Do it wrong and both the government and your employees will be on your back. Online payroll services pass the test of accuracy and usability, and they han- dle tasks that take up a lot time, freeing you to focus on other parts of your business. i AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 65 >SOLUTIONS SECURITY Oh, You Vulnerable Twit! Why Twitter Needs Security The Twitter phenomenon continues to grow at a rapid pace. Here’s why you need to beware of “twishing”—that would be Twitter phishing—and other Twitter security issues. By Matthew D. Sarrel he concept of Twitter—build- ing networks to share teeny- weeny bits of information —sounds like a giant waste of time to many. Who needs to read a steady stream of people’s random thoughts (each in 140 characters or less)? Yet Twitter is taking the world by storm; its number of active users has grown 900 per- cent from 2007 to 2008. And actually, Twit- ter can be quite helpful if you want to receive news updates, promote your business, and connect with colleagues and friends. As great a tool as Twitter is, there are some significant security risks due to its very nature. As a result of imposing a 140-char- acter limit on each tweet, users replace real URLs with shortened ones, such as those created by the services TinyURL or Bit.ly. This is a major vulnerability: Those who read the tweets have no way of knowing where the link leads until after they click it, mak- ing it extremely easy for mischief makers to. < es 1C MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION AUGUST 2009 funnel traffic to malicious Web sites, which are then used to infect the user’s computer with malware. How can you be careful about which links you follow if you've no way of knowing where they go? Counterfeit Twitter Accounts: A Breeze Currently, there is no e-mail verification required when new users set up a Twit- ter account. Let that sink in for a second. Every other service | can think of requires you to confirm your registration by click- ing ona link in an e-mail. | could set up a Twitter account for myself claiming to be, say, John Travolta—and enter John’s e-mail address knowing he won't be called upon to verify anything. It's hard to imagine an easier system in which to create counterfeit accounts. To make Twitter work for you, you need to build a network of those you follow and those who follow you. However, because no identity verification is needed to openues on PaySaton Paz st PSP om So ular Earn: Anes SCE Ass followers oy ‘Senypiaystation / Sony PayStaton Osi! Twice hae PseResistance | Sony PlayStation 9 Flew he sinls | flow Spe to tp the cee own yu eanvin FRE 13522 followers Psscrandmemt | sony Playstation 3 Flow sce Fas Spat pr ofthe ce ten yu can nn PEE DyStsan“gomes Es Ge Tha ¢ arfollowers FreepsaRockBand / Sony PlayStation 3 Fatewibe | fabw {inde ap ott pt ef cone wwe ou ea FREE DaySuaton + gras me ek Boot? 224follcers TO TELL THE TRUTH One of these things is not like the others. Can you tell which is the real PlayStation? an account, how do you know that the per- son following you is who he or she purports to be? Most people are so happy to geta new follower that they automatically follow back. The problem with this is that fraud- sters set up accounts and start following anyone and everyone. When they get fol- lowed back, this gives them credibility Cif he has 250 followers, then he must be for real—not!) which makes it easier to sucker in the next guy. And finally, never forget that whatever you tweet is public, unless you’ve locked down your profile—which very few users do because the point is, after all, to attract attention. If you don't let anyone read your tweets, then you’re not doing a very good job of attracting attention. Tweets you might not want the whole world to read include “Just started negotiating contract with customer XYZ," “I live at 742 Evergreen Terrace and will be out of town fora month,” or “I'm meeting with a vendor. Damn, this guy is stupid and boring!” But What Harm Could There Be? There are any number of ways you can be attacked on Twitter. The first is when some- one new follows you, so you check out the follower’s profile, which contains a link to that person’s blog, which then serves up a malware drive-by download. Or the new follower sends you a direct message about how you can get a free Nintendo Wii if you click a link. The only thing you'll really get is malware. Another common scenario involves some- ‘one tweeting a link to a site that’s “a great Twitter utility.” You click the shortened link (remember, you have no idea where a short- ened linkis truly going to take you) and end up at a site promising 1,000 new followers in 24 hours—all you have to do is enter your Twitter username and password. As aside note, since study after study has shown that most people use the same username and password combination on most of the sites they are registered with, you've now given away not just your Twitter account info but maybe also your banking, brokerage, and e- mail account info. How can you protect yourself? 1. KNOW WHICH ACCOUNTS ARE IN YOUR NET- WORK AND TO WHOM THEY REALLY BELONG. Check out every new follower. If any of their tweets or profile information look suspi- cious, block them 2. CONSIDER THE SOURCE OF A LINK BEFORE CLICKING ON IT. If you have doubts but feel the need to proceed, use a search engine to find the page being referenced and verify AUGUST 2009 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 67 >>that it’s real. There’s no way to peek at pre- shrunk URLs, and there's no way to prevent 100 percent of the drive-by downloads. Even if you're the curious type, try to put your need to know in perspective: Is even the most awesome video ever (or the most expensive “prize") worth the risk of becom- ing a spam bot? 3. TREAT YOUR TWEETS AS PUBLIC. Don't tweet sensitive information. 4. DO NOT USE TWITTER AS A HOOK-UP VENUE. | guarantee you that every profile from a sexy 18-year-old begging you to “click this link and get to know me” isa fraud. At best you're funding some sort of adver- tising click-fraud. At worst you're about to SECURITY get infected with malware. 5. KEEP YOUR LOG-ON INFORMATION TO YOURSELF Never provide your Twitter user- name and password (or any username and password) to anyone. 6. WHEN CHOOSING PEOPLE TO FOLLOW, USE COMMON SENSE If you sign up to fol- low someone and that person immediately direct-messages you with a “how | made a million dollars in 24 hours on Twitter” scheme, block that account as soon as you can, It’s obvious Twitter has a long way to go before it can be considered a secure envi- ronment. You'll have to protect yourself until it gets there. m rt v Finding your favorite laptop shouldn't be rocket science. Back-to-School 4NN ————E—E———EEE= Fi TecCnNTiIps ful bits from PCMag edito! INTERNET Clear DNS Cache to Speed up the Net Windows XP and Vista store the DNS infor- mation of Web sites you've visited, to reach those sites faster each time you access them. The cache sometimes gets corrupted or stores a lot of unusable data, and that leads to slower Internet response times, To clear the cache, go to the command prompt and type ipconfig/flushdns. The command purges the DNS cache and restores your Internet access speed.—MM PHONES Take Screenshots with Your iPhone Capturing screenshots from any applica- tion or from the home screen is easy on the iPhone. Hold down the Home key and click the lock/off button on the top of the unit. The screen will flash white, and your iPhone will make the same shutter snap sound you get when you take a photo. Your screen shot will be added to the Camera Roll under the Photos app.—Logan Kugler Use a Cup to Boost Your iPod’s Sound If you forgot your headphones or want to share your music discoveries with friends, I staff, Labs analysts, and readers try this neat trick: Lay your iPhone across the top of a cup to boost the sound. Since the speaker is at the bottom of the iPhone, you need to lay it off-center so the speaker projects into the cup. For more casual sound-boosting that’s still guaranteed to make you look like a schmo, cup your hand around the speaker-end to direct the sound toward your ears.—LK PRINTERS, How to Clean Your Inkjet Printer If you notice issues with your prints—color dropouts, for example—and find you need torun the built-in cleaning utility more than twice, print two or three test pages with black and with each color before running another cleaning cycle. Printing the test pages may even fix the problem. If, after six tries with the cleaning utility, you still have clogged nozzles, turn off the printer and let it sit unused for 2 or 3 hours. That can give air bubbles a chance to work their way out through the nozzles. Then try again. Beyond cleaning, though, the old adage holds: If it ain't broke, don’t fix it. Just try to keep vents clear so the printer doesn’t overheat.—Dan Evans AUGUST 2009 PE MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 69 >Per Med Ome ri Cea ed ee eeu ey ome aie iy Pee Rel aed HP Pavilion Elite m9400t $843 lst Lenovo IdeaCentre K220 $699 list Falcon Northwest Mach V (Core 17-975) $8,240 direct Dell Studio XPS 435 $1,769 direct 9400M) $799 list Lenovo IdeaCentre A600 $799 direct Lenovo ThinkCentre MS8p Eco Ultra Small $1,089 direct PEC Nel [I Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch $1199 direct Alienware M17 $2,059 direct HP HDXI6t $1,790 direct Acer Aspire 69306-6723 $1,020 street Dell Studio XPS 16 $1,804 direct Toshiba mini NB205 $400 street Lenovo ThinkPad T400 $1,580 direct HP Pavilion dv2800t $1,049 direct Acer Aspire 3935 $900 street 70 GAZ Lenovo ThinkPad USB Portable ‘Secure Drive $319 list Clickfree HD325 $180 list {SI lomega eGo Portable Hard Drive Mac Edition (500GB) $150 list Western Digital MyBook Studio Edition I $430 list HP StorageWorks Ai0400t $3,799 list PEN HP LP2275w $349 direct Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP $689 direct Acer B273HU $409 list Epson Perfection V300 Photo $99.99 direct ‘Canon Realis X700 $2,500 list, NEC VT80O $1,000 street Dell M1095 $499 direct fas [1 Konica Minolta magicolor IGOOW $120 street Lexmark €544dn $499 direct, ‘Canon Pixma iP4300 $99.99 direct HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless All-in-One $400 direct IE DIGITAL EDITION. AUGUST 2009 HP Photosmart A636 ‘Compact Photo Printer $149.99 direct Deen Netgear XAVBIO1 $150 street SMC SMCGSBP $300 street Spiceworks 3.5 Free CloudEngines Pogoplug $99 direct Windows Server 2008 R2 Free with Server 2008 license Cisco Network Magic Pro 5.5 $39.99 direct Vizio VPSOSXVT $1,499.99 list Sharp Aquos LC-52D85U $2,099.99 direct Sony Bravia KDL-46XBR8 $3,999.99 list Samsung LNS2A75O $3,999 list, Sony XEL-1 OLED Digital TV $2,499.99 list PS Canon PowerShot A100 IS $349.99 list Nikon D300 $1,800 street Canon EOS Rebel Ti $899.99 list Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 $399.95 list PIS Creative Vado Pocket Video Cam HD $299.99 direct Sony HDR-SR11 $1,099.99 directstScui DIGITAL PHOTO & VIDEO. Adobe Creative Suite 3 $999 direct CyberLink DVD Suite 7 Ultra $129.95 direct Adobe Photoshop CS4 $150 list Picasa 3 (beta) Free ‘Sony VAIO VGF-CP1 $299 list PEs Microsoft Zune 120GB $249 list Apple iPod touch 86GB, $229 direct Apple iPod nano 1668, $199 direct ‘Samsung YP-U3 (2GB) $90 list Sarees Chestnut Hill Sound George $549 direct 15 XPS 2.1 Lounge 360 street Logitech Pure-Fi Dream $200 direct Sonos Bundle 150 $999 direct Slingbox PRO-HD $299 list GAMING CONSOLES. Sony PlayStation 3 $399 direct Garmin niivi 265T $279.99 list TomTom One 140-5 $1905 ist Amazon Kindle 2 $359 direct SN RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 From $229.99 with contract {1 Apple iPhone 3G S From $99 with contract RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 $179.99 with contract Samsung Memoir SGH-t929 $299 direct (10 RIM BlackBerry Tour 9630 $269.99 direct Nokia N82 $629 direct Aliph New Jawbone $129.9 lst Plantronics Voyager Pro $99.99 list Ultimate Ears MetroFi 170 $49.99 list ECS ene Sierra Wireless 598U $249.99 list Pa Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro $449 direct QuickBase $250 direct per month Skype 4.0 Free Ipswitch Imail Server Premium VIO 25 licenses, $1195 direct Viigo for BlackBerry Free Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 $99.99 direct Adobe Illustrator CS4 $599 direct ‘AUGUST 2009 Air Sharing $6.99 direct ‘Stanza Free Photogene $2.99 direct Pandora (for iPhone) Free Rhapsody From $12.99 per month, Slacker Free Apple iLife 09 $79 direct SimCity 2009 (for iPhone) Free MLB 09: The Show $59.99 list Hulu (Spring 2009) Free Sea LastPass 1.5 Free Prevx 3.0 $29.95 direct per year Webroot AntiVirus with AntiSpyware 6.0 $39.95 direct Norton Internet Security 2009 $69.99 yearly Norton 360 version 3.0 $69.99 yearly Net Nanny 6.0 $39.99 yearly Po SOS Online Backup (beta) $19.95 direct Dropbox 2GB, free; 50GB, $9.95 monthly ENELS QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 9 $3,000 direct Quicken Home & Business 2009 $79.99 direct Mint.com (Winter 2009) Free JE DIGITAL.