Cupertino, Calif. - What do you call a PowerBook 180 with a color passive-matrix screen? As of next month, a PowerBook 165c.
The 165c will be followed this summer by a 33-MHz PowerBook Duo with an active-matrix gray-scale LCD and by an active-matrix color LCD version of the 180. Duos won't gain color before this fall, when an active-
matrix color system may hit the streets, sources said.
> 165c. While the PowerBook 160 and 180 support color video output, some users have been clamoring for color in the main display. The high cost, large size, power requirements and limited availability of color LCD screens have hampered Apple's efforts to deliver a color portable.
Apple's first color PowerBook, the 165c, will use a 9-inch passive-
matrix display, which is not as crisp or quick to respond as the 180's active-matrix gray-scale screen.
Color is likely to slightly reduce how long a PowerBook can run on a fully charged battery.
The 165c, expected to be available in both 4/80 and 4/160 configurations, will resemble the PowerBook 180 in all other respects including a 33-MHz processor and a math coprocessor. The 4/80 configuration should list for about $3,600; the 180 4/80 currently retails for $4,109.
> Active-matrix gray-scale Duo. The Duo 210 and 230 use a passive-matrix gray-scale LCD, because an active-matrix screen wouldn't fit the Duo's slim form factor. However, Apple has reportedly been able to obtain an active-matrix gray-scale LCD thin enough to squeeze inside the Duo's case. In addition to avoiding a redesign of the Duo's sleek form, conforming to the current case will guarantee that an active-matrix Duo will fit Apple's Duo Dock.
The active-matrix Duo will use a 33-MHz '030; a 160-Mbyte hard drive will be optional, sources said.
> Active-matrix color. True power users may want to wait until summer, when, sources said, they can order a 180-based model with a color active-matrix display. The new system will be slightly larger and definitely more expensive than the passive-matrix 165c.
> Color Duo. Apple will take longer to bring color to the dockable PowerBooks, and may be forced to move to a slightly larger case, making the new system incompatible with the current Duo Dock (but not MiniDock designs that slip behind and underneath Duos). However, the company may be able to offer a replacement top cover, making the Duo Dock tall enough to accommodate the new system.
About the time that the color Duo may make its debut, sources said Apple will ship a Duo Dock with Ethernet and a 32-Kbyte CPU cache.
As reported previously, Apple is facing serious constraints in its ability to meet the ever-growing demand for PowerBooks. At the current rate of sales increase, the company will easily double the installed base of PowerBooks by selling more than 400,000 machines this year, sources said.
With new PowerBooks coming faster than ever before, backlogs could go from a yearly inconvenience to a constant hassle.
MacWEEK 01.04.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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News: Spring crop of Classics will offer lower-cost color
By Carolyn Said
Cupertino, Calif. - Apple next month will ship its Color Classic, a compact color Mac priced at less than $1,400, sources said. Later this spring, the company reportedly will deliver a more-powerful Color Classic that eventually can be upgraded by adding a PowerPC processor.
> Color Classic. Slated to debut at Apple's Feb. 10 rollout, the Color Classic is essentially an LC II with a built-in Sony monitor, sources said. The LC II starts at $1,239 without a monitor.
Like the LC II, the Color Classic will be based on a 16-MHz 68030 with a processor direct slot for expansion. It will come with a 10-inch Trinitron display that offers 512-by-384-pixel resolution at 76 dpi (the equivalent of Apple's 12-inch monitor); 4 Mbytes of RAM, expandable to 10 Mbytes; and an 80-Mbyte or 160-Mbyte hard drive.
The new CPU will provide built-in support for eight-bit color, upgradable via video RAM to support 16-bit color. The machine will include a built-in microphone and will have sound and brightness controls on the case.
The Color Classic will sport a back panel that opens to allow for easy installation of expansion cards or a replacement logic board. The machine will be able to accommodate up to a 33-MHz '030-based board, which Apple plans to deliver this summer.
To save energy the Color Classic will dim its display after it has been idle for a user-specified time period.
Pricing will start at less than $1,400, sources said.
> 14-inch Color Classic. About April, Apple will deliver a compact color Mac based on a 25-MHz '030 with PDS slot and an integrated 14-inch Trinitron color display. It also will include two speakers and will use phase-shift technology to give stereo sound a 3-D feel. This Macintosh will be like an all-in-one version of Apple's forthcoming LC III (see MacWEEK, Nov. 2, 1992), sources said.
The motherboard is RISC-ready; owners of the new CPU will be able to plug in a PowerPC once the new chip becomes available, sources said.
The machine will have the same removable motherboard design as the Color Classic. Apple plans to offer a 33-MHz upgrade by this summer and an 68040 upgrade later, sources said.
The 14-inch Color Classic will have a 5.25-inch bay for an optional CD-
ROM drive, a built-in microphone, built-in support for 16-bit color and a headphone jack. It will come with 4 Mbytes of RAM, upgradable to 36 Mbytes.
Pricing reportedly will start at about $2,200.
Robert Hess contributed to this story.
MacWEEK 01.04.93
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News: Color-matching apps hook up with ColorSync
By Matthew Rothenberg
San Francisco - Third-party color-management systems are getting their hooks into Apple's new ColorSync extension to QuickDraw.
ColorSync will make its debut at this week's Macworld Expo here as part of Apple's rollout of imaging devices. The software will be available immediately through third parties and with Apple's new color flatbed scanner and inkjet printer. It also reportedly will ship with a future version of System 7.
ColorSync ships with a limited default color-matching method (CMM) that uses eight calibration algorithms to reduce color inconsistencies among peripherals such as printers, monitors and scanners. ColorSync reads software profiles of each device to discover their color characteristics.
Vendors of higher-end color-management products can take advantage of ColorSync's system-level architecture by providing their own CMMs and device profiles. Companies demonstrating their support for ColorSync at the expo include:
> Electronics for Imaging Inc. of San Mateo, Calif., will show a new ColorSync-compatible version of its EfiColor color-management software. The update will ship with Quark Inc.'s upcoming QuarkXPress 3.2, EFI's Cachet and all other applications that include EfiColor software. The company initially will release ColorSync-compatible profiles for 16 color printers and monitors from companies such as Apple, Tektronix Inc., Radius Inc., SuperMac Technology and QMS Inc. Early this year EFI will announce additional profiles for printers and scanners from Apple, Hewlett-Packard Co., GCC Technologies Inc., Seiko Instruments USA Inc. and CalComp Inc.
> Eastman Kodak Co. of Rochester, N.Y., will ship ColorSense, a $499 color-matching system. ColorSense will include a photometer for measuring monitor luminance, a target image for scanner calibration, device profiles of leading color peripherals and color-correction software.
> Savitar Inc., based here, will announce Version 2.0 of its ScanMatch scanner-calibration software. The update will create ColorSync scanner profiles by scanning reflective and transparent calibration targets that correspond to common film stock. Users will be able to apply calibrations from within Adobe Photoshop via a bundled plug-in.
ScanMatch 2.0 will ship next month for $199, including a Pantone target and the ColorSync extension; upgrades are $49. Additional calibration targets will range from $99 to $199 each, and Photoshop plug-ins that support calibrated output to popular printers will be $99 each.
> Light Source Inc. of Larkspur, Calif., reportedly will ship Ofoto 2.0, a ColorSync-compatible color version of its scan-optimization software (see MacWEEK, Dec. 7, 1992). Sources said Version 2.0, which uses its own non-CIE (Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage) color CMM, will be bundled with Apple's color flatbed scanner.
> RasterOps Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif., will announce new technology that accelerates ColorSync's default color correction by up to 18,000 times. It also will work with any ColorSync-compatible CMM. RasterOps said that by this spring it expects to ship display cards that include the technology.
> Compumation Inc. of State College, Pa., will announce details of a client-server system that extends ColorSync color management across a network. The unnamed server, which Compumation said it hopes to ship in the second quarter, will include a Mac workstation accelerated with a Radius Rocket card as well as a version of the company's Color Central software (see MacWEEK, Aug. 17, 1992).
> Tektronix Inc. of Wilsonville, Ore., will announce plans to release ColorSync profiles for its printer line in the first quarter. The profiles will ship standard with new printers, and current owners will be able to get them free.
> Radius Inc. of San Jose, Calif., will announce ColorSync support for its $599 PrecisionColor Calibrator package and device profiles for its color displays. Radius next month will ship device profiles for Apple's color scanner and printer.
Although ColorSync now supports a range of color-matching functions, some features reportedly will be unavailable until this summer's release of QuickDraw GX, Apple's enhanced imaging model. Current ColorSync users will not have access to gamut alarms, for example, and the software will not support PostScript-based applications such as Adobe Illustrator.
MacWEEK 01.04.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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News: Apple promises mix-and-match networking
By Mitch Ratcliffe
San Francisco - Apple this year plans to release a stream of developer and end-user tools that will add more network sophistication and support for mobile clients of the PowerBook and Newton ilk.
As it makes its connectivity plans for the rest of the decade, the company is apparently paying equal attention to the Mac, the upcoming Newton personal digital assistants (PDAs) and future Apple servers based on both the 68000 and PowerPC chip families.
"The value-added services that we can deliver are support for mobile, anytime-anywhere computing so that our customers can use PowerBooks or personal digital assistants from wherever they are," said Morris Taradalsky, vice president and general manager of Apple's Enterprise Systems Division. At a briefing last month, he outlined an umbrella technology, called the Apple Integrated Architecture, which will include connectivity, integration, and service-access tools for use in the client-client-server network environment Apple has been touting of late.
Taradalsky also said Dylan, a dynamic programming language under development at Apple, is just one of several cross-platform application development tools the company will announce (see MacWEEK, June 22, 1992). "It will provide the ability to develop on the Macintosh for the client-client-server environment," he said.
The first piece of this network jigsaw puzzle, the Shared Library Manager, already is shipping to developers. According to sources, it will be followed early this year by a second, enabling piece of code, the Transport Independent Interface, or TI2. This application programming interface (API) will give developers access to the Shared Library Manager's ability to load network protocol stacks and hardware drivers dynamically as applications make calls to network services.
The Shared Library Manager and TI2 API have been known collectively by the code name Enterprise Toolbox. They are, sources said, a layer of functionality that ordinary users probably will never get to know, but which developers can use to enable seamless network access in Macs and Macintosh-based servers, as well as Apple's upcoming PDAs and PowerOpen operating system.
Developers will be able to use the Shared Library Manager and TI2 API to mix and match the kinds of network services their applications can use because they provide the ability to make calls to various layers of the network model seamlessly. For example, an application will be able to make calls to a database on an Ethernet network running TCP/IP protocols, look up a user directory on an AppleTalk-based network and send messages to other applications on either network, without users having to leave the application to switch drivers.
Apple's forthcoming servers will play another critical role in the mobile connectivity drama.
Sources said Apple is developing server software that may include intelligent agents that can act as proxies for individual users when they are not physically connected to a network. These agents, which would monitor information on the network and stored in the server, would be able to collect messages and data of particular interest to the user and deliver it the next time that user logs onto the network.
Taradalsky cited Apple's Rosebud project, a WAIS (Wide Area Information Server) client application demonstrated during the past year, as an early example of the type of intelligence plans for its servers.
"We also must provide a lot of needed value to customers who have a lot of information in unstructured form," he said, adding that users will value "being able to find information whether it's stored locally or in the libraries of other providers."
Bruce Cleveland, Apple's senior director of open systems, who heads the company's PowerOpen development, said the PowerPC hardware due in early 1994 will substantially enhance the company's ability to support mobile clients while providing services to heterogeneous networks.
"The platform will let us layer almost anything on top, including OCE (Open Collaboration Environment), QuickTime, AppleScript, AppleTalk or AppleShare," Cleveland said. "Then I can begin building client/server workgroup applications ... much better than (Microsoft Corp.'s) Windows for Workgroups or Windows NT."
Cleveland said PowerOpen, which will offer a Mac-like user interface running above a Unix kernel developed by IBM Corp., would probably support Windows clients, in addition to Macs and Newtons.
"I think of [the Mac OS] more as a user environment that hosts a variety of services and capabilities," Cleveland said. He also said Apple will be moving to a client/server world view that treats the Mac as a front end to back-end services provided in future Apple products.
MacWEEK 01.04.93
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News: Attache packs up PB files
'Bags' will automate travel preparations
By Henry Norr
San Francisco - An Attache from Santorini soon could send PowerBook users packing.
An innovative "travelware" package due late this quarter from Santorini Consulting & Design Inc., Attache uses the metaphor of packing and unpacking bags to help users prepare their PowerBooks - or other mobile Macs, removable cartridges or transportable hard drives - for trips and to clean up on return. Bags are reusable documents that specify how the target disk is to be configured for a particular user, project or destination.
The program, tentatively priced at $199, takes a broader view of mobile-
computing requirements than previous PowerBook packages, which have focused primarily on file synchronization and power management. In addition to its file-management capabilities, the Santorini package includes some 10 other utilities specifically designed for travelers.
> Bag building. Among the functions that can be performed automatically by an Attache bag are copying specific files or files that meet user-
defined criteria (such as "all Excel spreadsheets modified in the last week on the server") from other disks and network volumes; synchronizing folders; offloading unneeded files and restoring them on return; and backing up key files on the home network or on floppies to go.
To help users avoid being stranded with orphaned aliases, bags can check aliases, copy the originals to the PowerBook and point the alias to the copy; on return, the original setup can be restored. The program will also have built-in support for AppleTalk Remote Access, enabling users to create bags that perform such tasks as logging in to the office server from a hotel room to pick up new files. Users or their managers can also build notes and reminders into bags. All operations can be previewed and logged.
> Utilities. Attache's associated utilities can be launched from an icon palette within the main application; some also can be invoked at any time via hot key, if an extension accompanying the application is loaded.
Among the utilities, one called Preflight scans the PowerBook disk and generates a report identifying missing applications, settings files, utilities and documents, as well as conditions such as low disk space and battery power. The SpaceFinder module lists files not modified recently as candidates for compression or removal.
Other modules include TravelLog, a RAM-resident note pad; TravelSafe, an automatic backup utility; Privacy, which blanks the screen or puts up a fake spreadsheet on command or after a specified interval; Yellow Pages, which provides a miniguide to telecommunications, as well as phone numbers for on-line services, airlines, hotels and car-rental agencies; and CheatSheet, which offers a pop-up screen for information such as itineraries, passwords, and phone, credit-card and license numbers.
On the traveler's return, the ChangeFinder module can generate a list of all files created and modified during the trip.
Attache will be the second program to be published under the Santorini label; the first, an AppleShare administration utility called Server Manager, is due this month. The 3-year-old company, however, has developed several programs for other companies, including Farallon Computing Inc.'s TrafficWatch II, Dayna Communications Inc.'s Network Vital Signs and the original concept and a prototype of Fifth Generation Systems Inc.'s AutoDoubler.
Santorini Consulting & Design Inc. is at 2147 Union St., Upper Level, San Francisco, Calif. 94123. Phone (415) 563-6398; fax (415) 563-0332.
MacWEEK 01.04.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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News: Macworld Expo show picks
The votes are in on the best and brightest new wares to be displayed at Macworld Expo this week. PowerBooks and their accessories continue to be the hottest ticket. Overall, while the country is about to take a new direction, the Mac is holding a steady course.
PowerBooks
With about half a million PowerBooks now in the world, expect to see plenty of companies providing accessories for computers on the go.
Motorola Inc. will offer expo goers a free, 30-day trial offer of Embarc software and a NewsStream pager, which will let roving users receive wireless messaging and daily USA Today news and weather briefs.
It'll be docks aplenty for Duo owners at the show. In addition to Apple's own offerings, you'll be able to see RasterOps Corp.'s DuoMate and E-Machines Inc.'s PowerLink DeskNet, along with tiny docks: Envisio Inc.'s Dynamic Duo, E-Machines' PowerLink Presentor and Computer Care Inc.'s new microdocks, including a SCSI adapter.
Applied Engineering will show its unique cellular modem-voice-fax solutions, now shipping. Meanwhile, if you want to connect a PowerBook to an Ethernet network without an adapter, check out Sonic Systems Inc.'s PowerBridge.
Strategic Mapping Inc. will unveil Local Expert, a "personal navigator" application that includes maps and information about attractions, restaurants, hotels and current events in major cities. And Global Village Communication Inc. will introduce GlobalFax Version 2.1, which will support optical character recognition.
PowerBooks also are the rage in the utilities arena this season. Two new collections for notebook users - UP from ALSoft Inc. and Bill Steinberg's PB Tools, published by InLine Design - will make their debuts; Palomar Software Inc. will ship On the Road, an extension that automatically carries out deferred printing and fax transmissions and remounts server volumes when connections are available; Symantec Corp. will bring its Norton Essentials for PowerBook (nee GUM); a slew of recently released synchronization packages will be on display; and insiders will get sneak peeks at a couple of upcoming packages that break the sync-your-files and save-your-battery mold.
Productivity
ACI US Inc., having finally served up shipping versions of 4th Dimension 3.0 and 4D Server 1.0, the client-server implementation of its relational database, will put them on display at its booth.
For flat-file fiends, Claris Corp. will showcase the cross-platform capabilities of FileMaker Pro 2.0 for the Mac and Windows.
Meanwhile, Claris' new publishing division, Claris Clear Choice, will tout two of its newly acquired products: BrushStrokes, a color painting program, and Retrieve It!, a text-search program.
Mainstay will launch a new object-oriented database called Phyla. Objective Software Inc.'s SpreadBase, which wraps a spreadsheet interface over a database engine, is finally shipping and will be on display.
Lotus Development Corp. will show off Version 1.1 of Lotus 1-2-3 for the Mac, and Microsoft Corp. will introduce the Mac version of its Open EIS Pak, a set of tools to build custom enterprise information systems using Microsoft Excel and other applications. And those who haven't yet seen Microsoft Word 5.1 will have a chance to try out the new version's customizable tool bar.
WordPerfect Corp. will show WordPerfect Works 1.2, its version of the BeagleWorks integrated package.
Business users have some fresh choices for creating presentations, including Microsoft PowerPoint 3.0 and Gold Disk Inc.'s Astound!.
Connectivity
Several vendors are offering packet sleuths new network-management tools. Caravelle Networks Corp. will display the latest version of its network-management software, NetWorks 3.0, which includes support for SNMP and Novell IPX. Dayna Communications Inc. has extended the capabilities of Network Vital Signs, and The AG Group Inc. will show off a new packet-decoding technology called "thread intelligence" in the final beta version of TokenPeek.
Farallon Computing Inc. will show a way to make a Mac look and act like a Windows-equipped machine (or vice versa) with its cross-platform-
compatible versions of Timbuktu.
PIMS
From funky floating clocks to applications that try to do it all, show goers can view a host of new options for managing their information.
ProVUE Development Corp. is suiting up Power Team, a low-cost package that integrates a full lineup of personal-management functions, including a Quicken-like checkbook.
For users who just need to know where to be and when, Now Software Inc.'s networkable Up-To-Date 2.0, Pastel Development Corp.'s DayMaker 2.0 (now networkable) and Visionary Software Inc.'s First Things First 3.0 offer three approaches to scheduling. And Attain Corp. will be on hand with In Control 2.0, which adds a calendar and other enhancements to the to-do list manager.
On the contact-management front, check out Contact Software International Inc.'s ACT! for Mac and new versions of Advanced Software Inc.'s InTouch and Portfolio Systems Inc.'s Dynodex.
Display
Envisio Inc. will unleash its RAGE (Radically Accelerated Graphics Engine) 24-bit graphics board on expo attendees. Truevision Inc. will debut Bravado24, a full-color video digitizer with optional compression.
Full-screen, full-motion video-editing systems will be on display from RasterOps, SuperMac Technology and Radius Inc. SuperMac will roll out its PhotoSpeed system for Eastman Kodak Co.'s Photo CD. It includes an accelerated color graphics card, a CD-ROM drive and a pile of software. SuperMac also will debut Touchscreen display systems and its Thunder II line of graphics acceleration and display boards. Radius will show its latest Color Pivot display systems.
Printers/Scanners
Color imaging will set the tone at Apple's booth when the company finally takes the wraps off its color flatbed scanner and inkjet printer, both expected to ship with ColorSync, new system software for device-independent color matching.
A spectrum of color luminaries will jump aboard the ColorSync bandwagon with solutions, including scan optimization, color management and acceleration. They include Light Source Inc., Electronics for Imaging Inc., Kodak, Savitar Inc., RasterOps and Compumation Inc.
Other new color devices include Tektronix Inc.'s Phaser 200 series of fast, plain-paper thermal-wax printers; LaserMaster Corp.'s upcoming thermal-wax model, expected to set new price lows; and Mustek Inc.'s Paragon 1200 color scanner.
On the monochrome front, Apple is expected to present its challenges to Hewlett-Packard Co.'s LaserJet 4M: the LaserWriter Pro 630 and 600, both of which use the same true-600-dpi, 8-page-per-minute Canon engine as HP's new laser printer. The company also will introduce a faster version of its StyleWriter inkjet.
GCC Technologies Inc. will unveil SelectPress, a 600-dpi, 8-ppm laser printer, and NewGen Systems Corp. will roll out the TurboPS/880p, a low-
cost addition to its Personal Series laser line.
In portable-printer news, Mannesmann Tally Corp. will announce the MobileWriter, a 6-ppm PostScript-compatible model for about $1,000, and Kodak will introduce a $79 Mac adapter kit for its $549 Diconix 701.
Graphics
Aldus Corp. will make a full-scale frontal assault on "professional" desktop publishers with Version 5.0 of PageMaker. Meanwhile, Quark Inc. will sell a new $45 disk of XTensions called Red Hot & Publish; all proceeds will benefit the American Foundation for AIDS Research.
Computer artists will find plenty to get excited about at the show, including lots of cataloging programs: DeltaPoint Inc.'s new FreezeFrame, Aldus' Fetch and Version 2.0 of Multi-Ad Services Inc.'s Search.
Multi-Ad also will showcase Version 3.5 of its Multi-Ad Creator, and Timeworks Inc. will sell the CD-ROM version of Publish-It! Easy 3.0.
Both budding and accomplished designers should check out the tear-off palettes, magic wand, and record and playback features of Fractal Design Corp.'s Painter 2.0.
Adobe Systems Inc. will tout Dimensions, a utility that turns 2-D art into 3-D; Photoshop 2.5, the speedy upgrade to its image-editing program; and SuperATM, which simulates document fonts if the user does not have them installed.
For low-end painting and drawing capabilities, look into Deneba Software's artWorks and Expert Software Inc.'s Expert Draw. Deneba also will show three ToolPAK add-ons for Canvas. And two old-time graphics programs - SuperPaint from Aldus and CA-Cricket Draw III from Computer Associates International Inc. - will show up in fresh versions.
Computer tots may like Davidson and Associates Inc.'s $29 Kid Pictures, which includes a slew of busy activities for children age 4 and older, including paint-by-number, connect-the-dots and mazes.
Font fans should check out Ares Software Corp.'s booth where the company will show FontMonger 1.5 and the new FontHopper and FontChameleon.
For multimedia software, stop by Passport Designs Inc.'s booth and take a look at its Passport Producer presentation program. The Company of Science & Art will show After Effects, its new QuickTime special-effects software. And Macromedia Inc. will take the wraps off Authorware 2.0, its cross-platform multimedia authoring software, now with QuickTime capability.
Specular International will introduce Infini-D 2.5, an upgrade that adds Type 1 font support to the 3-D animation package.
Utilities
Apple this week will announce the Macintosh Easy Open system extension (based on Translation Manager technology) and show it working with several third-party translation extensions from DataViz Inc. to seamlessly convert document formats.
At the Connectix Corp. booth, Virtual 3.0 and a new paper-tracking application called InfoLog will be on sale at discounted show prices. Meanwhile, Mainstay will finally ship MarcoPolo 2.0, turning it into a low-cost document-imaging solution.
No Hands Software of Magnet fame will deliver Common Ground, a new print-to-disk utility. On the data-recovery front, Fifth Generation Systems Inc. hopes to electrify the crowds with its recently released Public Utilities, while Central Point Software Inc. will introduce Safe & Sound, a low-cost, "emergency disk" utility. Dantz Development Corp. will debut Retrospect 2.0, the long-awaited rewrite of its high-end backup tool. Now Software will unveil two brand-new programs: a package of desktop-beautification tools called Now Fun and an all-in-one compression package named - you guessed it - Now Compress. Insignia Solutions Inc. will again reorganize its SoftPC line, cutting prices, adding features and delivering a Windows-capable version.
E-Mail
ShareVision Technology Inc.'s ShareView Plus, an integrated video telephony and collaboration system that works over standard phone lines, will be on display. Users of the system can dial up a co-worker and interactively work on the same documents while making faces at each other.
Casady & Greene Inc. will show Snap Mail, a messaging system that provides AppleTalk Macs with electronic mail sans mail server and administrator. CE Software Inc. will demonstrate its new QuickMail 2.6, which boasts server and administration enhancements. And Macworld attendees will get their first peek at WordPerfect Office 4.0, an integrated set of workgroup technologies with beefed-up cross-platform scheduling and E-mail.
Titles
Beatles buffs should look at A Hard Day's Night on CD-ROM at The Voyager Company booth. The company also will debut five new titles in its electronic-books collection, including Moby Dick, The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
For a break from high-end printers and networking applications, check out Who Killed Sam Rupert?, an interactive CD-ROM mystery from Creative Multimedia Corp. showing in the Educorp booth.
MacWEEK 01.04.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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GA: Aldus drafts PageMaker sequel
Version 5.0 tightens typography, does seps
By Carolyn Said
Seattle - Aldus Corp. this week will lay out its plans for PageMaker 5.0, an upgrade with few major changes but a number of significant new features for power users.
The company will announce both Mac and Windows versions of the update at Macworld Expo in San Francisco and will ship them by summer. Enhancements will include:
> Greater precision. PageMaker 5.0 will offer rotation and skewing in 0.01-degree increments as well as horizontal and vertical reflection. Users will be able to edit rotated text and crop rotated graphics.
"Free rotation will open up space three dimensionally," said Sean Adams, design director at April Greiman Inc., a Los Angeles design company. "The previous version (which offered rotation of text in only 90-degree increments) locked you into a very rigid way of working."
The Control palette now will be visible in both Layout and Story Editor views.
> Four-color printing. PageMaker 5.0 users will be able to produce process-color separations from within the program. The current version is bundled with Aldus PrePrint, a color-separation program. "Being able to do seps within PageMaker will make my life a lot easier," Adams said. Aldus will continue to sell PrePrint separately for $495.
Aldus said printing speeds will be faster. PageMaker 5.0 will be able to print nonconsecutive pages in any order and will offer crop, registration and plate-identification marks.
> Multiple publications. PageMaker 5.0 will be able to open multiple files, limited only by memory. It will offer tile and cascade capabilities as well as a list of all open publications. Users will be able to drag and drop text and graphics among open publications.
> Integration. PageMaker 5.0 will add filters for Eastman Kodak Co.'s Photo CD, DXF (Drawing Interchange File) and WordPerfect Graphics. Both versions will support OLE (Object Linking and Embedding), Microsoft Corp.'s interapplication communications scheme. They also will support the Panose font mapper, which identifies a publication's missing fonts, and the Twain application programming interface standard for direct scanning.
Users will be able to unlink embedded files, such as graphics documents.
> More Additions. PageMaker 5.0 will come with 20 Aldus Additions, or add-on code modules, up from six in Version 4.0. New Additions will let users group objects, sort pages, create running headers and footers, adjust kerning, and track editing.
Some users noted that the upgrade increases the similarities between PageMaker and QuarkXPress, the rival publishing program from Denver-
based Quark Inc. PageMaker 5.0 will match XPress in another way: Its price will increase by $100, to $895. Upgrades will be $150, or free to users who bought Version 4.2 after Jan. 1.
Aldus Corp. is at 411 First Ave. S., Seattle, Wash. 98104-2871. Phone (206) 622-5500; fax (206) 343-4240.
MacWEEK 01.04.93
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(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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BusinessWatch: Apple's stock climbing, but still undervalued
Price/earnings ratio lags behind rivals'
By Lisa Picarille
Cupertino, Calif. - For the first time in Apple's 15-year history, its earnings per share price has exceeded that of IBM Corp., but Apple's shares continue to trade at an unusually low price relative to earnings, according to Wall Street analysts.
Apple, with one-eighth the revenues of $56 billion IBM, saw its stock overtake IBM's in the wake of Big Blue's announcement last month that it would lay off 25,000 more workers - on top of the 40,000 job cuts announced earlier last year. The news sent IBM's stock tumbling more than $11 per share to an 11-year low of $51.88, while Apple's stock hovered around $60.
Apple now also tops IBM when the two stocks are compared in terms of price/ earnings (P/E) ratio - an indicator closely watched by investment professionals. Apple's P/E ratio last month was 13.5, compared with IBM's 10.8. But Apple's stock was undervalued compared with other leading companies selling Intel-based PCs. Both Compaq Computer Corp. and Dell Computer Corp. had P/E ratios of 20.2; Microsoft Corp.'s was 34.5.
At an industry conference last month, Apple CEO John Sculley said Apple's stock price "suffers because we're lumped in with all the other PC companies."
Most analysts agree Apple holds a unique position in the industry, selling both software and systems, and it is difficult to place a value on its stock.
"They have good equity and good cash flow, but they are not Microsoft," said David Wu, a financial analyst at S.G. Warburg in New York. He said he doesn't think Apple's stock is undervalued. "When Apple's stock price exceeds Microsoft's, that will be a victory."
Microsoft, with annual sales of $2 billion, now is trading at about $90 per share, giving the Redmond, Wash., company a market valuation of $24 billion. Apple's market valuation is $7 billion, about the same as its sales total.
Sculley, however, last month offered a word of hope to Apple shareholders. "We are three years through our transformation to a systems company," he said. "The fifth year will be the reason why our shareholder value should be better.
"It's discouraging, but not much different from five years ago. But if you look inside, we are a very different company."
MacWEEK 01.04.93
BusinessWatch Page 76
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Review: Norton Essentials overcome PB limitations
NEP keeps PBs charged and in sync
By Dale Coleman
Battery-charge conservation and file synchronization are two of the hottest topics among most PowerBook users. Norton Essentials for PowerBook 1.0, an integrated collection of utilities from Symantec Corp., addresses both of these issues in a way that should satisfy the needs of both the casual user and the more technically literate. The $129 program also includes productivity-enhancement features to overcome some of the PowerBook's design shortcomings, such as disappearing cursors on PowerBooks with supertwist displays and the unfortunate Caps Lock key.
Inspired by Guy Kawasaki, Norton Essentials for PowerBook (NEP) was developed and marketed by After Hours Software as GUM (Guy's Utilities for Macintosh) PowerBook edition. Symantec purchased the product from After Hours and rechristened it a few weeks before its introduction.
Installation. You can access NEP's features in several ways. The package installs as a control panel with 12 Power Panels. It also installs an icon in the right portion of the menu bar. This pull-down menu summons the control panel and displays indicators for power source, AppleTalk status, time and date, as well as Power Panels for six of the most frequently used features. This setup may seem complicated, but NEP provides a method of accessing each feature that will suit most users.
Right to battery life. All battery-charge conservation elements have three settings: A/C Power, Battery and Low Battery. NEP monitors your power source and switches to the appropriate mode automatically.
The Low Battery setting can be extremely useful. When the battery charge reaches a power level that you define, it automatically switches to draconian power-conservation techniques that you also can define.
PowerBook display screens are the major power consumers. To counteract this, NEP lets you control backlighting in several ways: You can use either a menu or keyboard command to dim the screen; set NEP to dim the screen at predefined intervals of from five seconds to three hours; or tell NEP never to dim the screen. (With current screen technology, it's probably best to set the screen to dim after a few minutes to prevent temporary screen ghosting.) To further conserve battery power, you can set NEP to dim the screen during start-up.
Other power-saving techniques, such as spinning down the hard disk, putting the system to sleep and resting the processor, also are cleverly implemented. You can spin down the disk or put the system to sleep with a keyboard or menu command at any time. And, in addition to the three power settings mentioned earlier, NEP lets you control many of the settings according to the application you're running. It includes default settings for a few popular applications, and you can add to the list easily. This feature takes into account the fact that some applications regularly access the disk, while others are completely or mostly RAM-based. This means that you can set NEP to automatically spin down the hard disk after a short interval when you're running RAM-based applications, but have it wait several minutes to spin down the disk when running non-RAM-based applications.
NEP includes six battery-charge indicators, including one that displays battery voltage. Other indicators give the status on estimated time remaining and percentage of charge remaining. (Since the way you use the system over the course of a battery charge can change, projecting remaining time is tricky. NEP provides an analysis of battery usage that shows current charge and depletion rate in addition to estimated usage remaining.)
We give NEP excellent marks for battery-charge management. It's accessible to the casual user without sacrificing the fine-tuning control that many serious users demand.
AppleTalk status. AppleTalk also consumes power, and PowerBook users are familiar with turning it off to conserve batteries. Unfortunately, to turn AppleTalk on from a PowerBook you have to restart the system. NEP addresses this situation nicely with its Instant Access feature. Instant Access monitors the AppleTalk serial port; you can set it to turn off AppleTalk when the AppleTalk connector is removed. When you need to reconnect to the network, Instant Access re-establishes the network connection and mounts all specified volumes.
We ran into one problem with this auto-sensing feature of NEP and a PowerBook Duo 230, which has only one serial port. If you do not have an internal modem and wish to use the Duo's serial port for a modem connection, you must turn the Instant Access feature off or your communications package won't recognize the modem connection. (We even had a few instances where we had to turn off NEP totally in order to use our external modem.)
We have experienced some crashes when printing on a PowerBook 140 and have heard reports from other users, but Symantec could not confirm our suspicion of a lurking bug or a conflict with other extensions in this module.
Synchronization. Developing a file-synchronization scheme can be difficult, mostly because of the variety of ways users work. Some schemes are poorly implemented or complex; others are too rigid. We found the NEP approach, called SyncIt!, just right. You specify which two folders to synchronize, then save them as a named set that is added to the SyncIt! menu. NEP lets you create any number of sets.
SyncIt! makes good use of aliases, so you can place aliases of your files from many folders together into one folder. You also can use SyncIt! as a simple backup utility to create floppy disk backups of important files when you are traveling. If losing your PowerBook is a lesser catastrophe than losing your files, you'll find yourself using SyncIt! this way with great regularity.
SyncIt! has an undocumented use, too. Users with 4-Mbyte PowerBooks probably give little thought to RAM disks. We experimented with using a very small RAM disk to store active files, which we occasionally synchronized to the hard disk. When using RAM-based applications, we were able to keep the hard disk spun down except when synchronizing, thus extending our battery-charge life.
The usable utilities. There are more issues to PowerBook life than battery tweaking and file synchronization, and NEP addresses many of these.
The backwardly named Airport Shut Down feature is actually an abbreviated start-up sequence designed to prove to the airport security staff that your gray plastic carry-on is indeed a Mac. Rather than wait several minutes while the PowerBook starts up and loads all your extensions, you can use Airport Shut Down to make the Mac display a message (to which you can add your name) as soon as the NEP extension loads. Then you can click the Shut Down button. If security is still doubtful, you can click the Continue button to start up the PowerBook in the normal fashion.
A simple security scheme called Power Guard blanks the screen when you put the PowerBook to sleep and requires a password when you awaken the system or on start-up. Power Guard is designed to deter only the casual snooper, however; a determined intruder still can access your system by starting up from a floppy.
NEP provides alternatives to all the standard cursors, which is helpful for users of PowerBooks with difficult-to-read supertwist displays.
Another utility, Quick Notes, is designed as a place to store those small snippets of information, such as credit card numbers, that you need to keep track of when on the road. (You can password-protect this data as well.) And the Caps Lock Control feature gives you excellent control over the otherwise unruly PowerBook Caps Lock key.
Documentation and support. NEP is so well-designed that documentation is not necessary, but the 60-page manual is well-written. It fails to mention, however, that if you install NEP on a desktop Mac, only SyncIt! is installed (which is useful for those who want to control file synchronization from their desktop Macintosh). When we called technical support, our questions were answered promptly.
NEP and CPU. A predecessor to NEP, Connectix PowerBook Utilities (CPU) from Connectix Corp. of San Mateo, Calif. (see MacWEEK, Sept. 28),was released last fall. CPU offers no file-synchronization feature, but otherwise both products address basically the same needs, with much feature overlap. However, NEP has no equivalent to CPU's KeyboardPower feature, which gives you drop-down menus and keyboard control of menu commands. NEP also lacks CPU's keyboard control of screen brightness.
The NEP interface, however, is superior to CPU's by almost every measurement. CPU forces you to call up its control panel through the Apple menu, while the NEP control panel is always as close as the menu bar. NEP's three power-source settings are easy to set up and use while still accomplishing the stated goal automatically. By contrast, CPU's complex Users and Sets scheme, while possibly more flexible, strikes us as overkill. We wouldn't want to use a PowerBook without one or the other of the utilities, but we generally prefer NEP to CPU.
Conclusions. By design, NEP addresses many PowerBook limitations, both in hardware and system software. Power conservation will remain extremely important to most PowerBook users until batteries with much longer charge lives are economically feasible. And until the Mac operating system addresses such issues as file synchronization, this too will remain important to PowerBook users. NEP addresses each of these admirably.
Unless your PowerBook is your only computer and you never remove it from your desk, you won't regret your NEP investment.
Symantec Corp. is at 10201 Torre Ave., Cupertino, Calif. 95014. Phone (408) 253-9600; fax (408) 253-4092 or (408) 252-4694.
Score Card
Norton Essentials for PowerBook
Symantec Corp.
Version tested: 1.0
List price: $129
Overall value ****
Norton Essentials for PowerBook, originally developed by After Hours Software as GUM (Guy's Utilities for Macintosh), is a sophisticated and cleanly implemented set of utilities that addresses two areas of concern to PowerBook users - battery-charge conservation and file synchronization - while adding other PowerBook-specific productivity enhancements. The package installs as a control panel, which also is readily accessible from an icon on the menu bar. You can add status indicators to the menu bar for such elements as AppleTalk, battery charge or remaining time. As with other utilities of this type, many of the settings can be achieved through manual operations, but Norton Essentials does a very good job of automating the process.
Performance ****
Features *****
Ease of use ****
Documentation/support ****
System 7 Compatibility
Norton Essentials for PowerBook 1.0
Balloon help No
TrueType n/a
Publish and subscribe n/a
Apple events No
32-bit addressing* Yes
*According to vendor.
MacWEEK 01.04.93
Reviews Page 107
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Mac the Knife: Apple looks to Asia for answers
The new year has finally arrived, and now it's time to let the games begin! Of course, which games you mean depends on which games you play. The President-elect has his hands full, as do a number of travel agents and moving companies. For the Knife's crowd, the games begin in San Francisco because the Macworld Expo is in the house.
While most of us will spend this week in a state of permanent awe at all the neat new technologies on display and the implications of various announcements, the Knife will devote at least some of his waking hours to pondering both what might have been and what might still be. For example, if last month's apparently erroneous rumors of a Apple-Novell merger or buyout had only been true, the AT&T-Novell agreement would have put Apple in the Unix catbird seat.
Irony aside, a much more credible report has reached the Knife: Apple's deal with Taiwan's Acer Inc. is as good as done. All the details may never be known, as is common with these high-level agreements, but sources are certain that PowerBook 145 production will soon become the responsibility of Acer.
Offloading production to third parties makes a lot of sense, particularly in view of Apple's lackluster track record in forecasting demand and relying on its own manufacturing capabilities. And it makes even more sense when you remember Apple's stated plan to introduce new PowerBook models every three to six months. Those of us growing weary of lengthening delivery schedules perhaps should learn the fine art of patience now, while we've got all this time on our hands.
Demand examples. Apple, in general, tries to ensure that supplies of current models are exhausted before the replacement models begin shipping. This is the case of the Mac IIsi, which the company needs to clear out to make room for a new model due next month. One scheme Apple developed was an employee purchase program that features a IIsi complete with color monitor for $1,300. The program turned out to be a big hit, and lo and behold, there's now a short-term backlog.
While we're at it, we might as well pass on the Knife's report that Apple's new color printer, to be announced at the show this week, won't be available in any meaningful quantities until April. Some days it seems Apple can't make anything in sufficient quantity except, perhaps, mail-order catalogs and angry dealers.
Then, on other days, things look a lot brighter. According to an extremely reliable source, the Newton project is right on schedule for the promised introduction during the first half of the year. This should slow down the rumors that the Newtons won't appear until the fourth quarter.
Knife awards. Just when you thought you'd read the last year-end award list, here's Mac the Knife with two of his own. The winner of his "They Just Don't Get It" award goes to a company (which shall remain nameless to protect the guilty) that has recently announced plans for a series of interactive CD-ROM titles based on live models from one of the so-called men's magazines. The press release tried to maintain a businesslike tone but lost it with the promise "to yield the highest level of performance within the technology."
The "Most Likely to Be a Smash Hit for No Known Reason" award goes to the "Star Trek" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation" audio clips and screen-saver packages. For those who recognize a real classic when they see one, there's also a similar "2001: A Space Odyssey" set.
When you've recovered from getting down with the industry, share what you learned with the Knife at (415) 243-3544, fax (415) 243-3650, MCI (MactheKnife), AppleLink (MacWEEK) and CompuServe/ZiffNet/Mac. Depending on what you heard, there could be a MacWEEK mug in it for you.
MacWEEK 01.04.93
Mac the Knife Page 228
(c) Copyright 1993 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
