22 EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES: Speed-tested, reviewed, and rated. p38 Mac! Life 3° FEBRUARY 2009 NO.25 WWW.MACLIFE.COM MADE ON A ‘Amazing products, prototypes, and works of art that push the limits of creativity and invention HOW TO: >> Control a Mac from a PC. (No kidding!) HOW TO: >> Instantly Add Flash Video to Your iWeb Pages.See us at Booth #1020 MacWorld Expo 2009TECHTOOL PRO 5 Fix them yourself and save money on costly repair bills. + Keep your computer running smoothly. + Help prevent problems in the future. + Fix most of your problems on the spot. i) Bacudon i] icromat nc, 5329 kyane Biv, Santa Rosa, CA 95403, USA 9 echToolProtege 1800 899.6227 707-566-2691 Infogmromatcomwarwmeromatcom pea ees irele) Wada lonMac! Life 3° FEATURES =D <«< 22 Made ona Mac Ever noticed how the coolest products, music, illustrations, films, etc., are usually made on a Mac? We have. And we share some of the more amazing Mac-induced feats of creativity and invention here. By Leslie Ayers 38 You Can Take It with You 50 Odd Jobs We put 22 portable exteal drives through the paces to let Astro ed storage devices wil ontrale rapher David lig uses Mac you know which magnetic or fa make the grade. By Stephan Somogy! of celestial bodes light-years from Earth By Leslie Ayers pes to "make pretty pictures 994 MIL F209 wwmmalte ceBring it on, We can tae it adset. Se Pleture of your tired ad, funky cel phone = Your Neb page using YouTUbe as 2 oo-betneea, By Steve Paris REVIEWS 56 56 58 60 63 65 66 10 75 7 8 80 a1 Composer DSLR lens 26 Bento 2 database ap 88 Dies Cover 2 1 Bluetooth Las ve Bluetooth laser mouse 94 Spring Cleaning 10 uti 7 After Effects C54 cit graphics app iPhone apps roundup Mercury On-The-Go portable hi drive enclosu Colorware ha WEFT frames LUnkStation Min! SOOGE NAS drive 00k directly? Need to mak onalty to all our applic ions to ask@macilfecom.) LISTEN 86 PLAY 98 98 World of Goo pur home Mac from your office 1 Appie. By Joe Rybickt ‘Add memory-etficient Flash videos to ‘TTI Uss turntable 1d showTIME iPod abe Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slck Precipice of Darkness, MIL Bee>>>Online >>MACWORLD EXPO COVERAGE Mactite.com willbe bringing you al the Expo coverage as it happens. Check out our ve bog of Stove’ keynote >> THE MAGAZINE Starting Jan, visit MacLife.com to see what's featured in the February issue of MacLite {and to find ane versions of many ofthe issue's features, reviews, and howto articles, 2996 MIL P9509 wmmsstcem >» APP STORE. Were fling the site vith new App Store reviens every week Why bother with ‘00 cheap to fork over $199. >>VIDEOS Sometimes you need some visual stimulation. No, not that kind, When words and stil images aren't ‘enough to get the point across, video ist Jr compren eto he subject at as they bring how-tos, and first Mac | Life €>>>Consider 5 CREATIVE GENIUS UNBOUND computing platform encourages-dare | say, sels?-creatvity. And i's not even going too far to | {Sno news to the average Mac fanatic that Apple's hat the design of the Mac itself-and the elegant simplicity of OS X and Mac apps ikeiLife-inspire a fair ‘amount of imitation-as tater. Indee, in researching this month’ cover story, "Made on a Mac" (922), many ‘ofthe people | spoke to-even those didn't end up polling in the article-told me thatthe streamined noruser-manval-necessary nature of Apple products teed ther drive to create sophisticated, but not overly complicated, products Like Apple al the folks Ii feature inthe article Continue to reach alittle higher and refine what they {do with each new undertaking, whether it's a matter ‘of making an eartfrienaly athletic shoe: producing public-service ads witha group of qrade-schoolers; (F spending counties hours late into the night, Vietually unpaid, learning how t rg 3D animations for real than reality, and passes muster with the kes of George Lucas. And then there's Davia lig, whose astrophotography "hobby" has more or less consumed his entire life (see “Odd Jobs" p$0), as has sticking to his Mac-using guns, despite aniitially thin selection of astronomy apps for 0S X ‘The upshot? The people profiled inthis issue have compeling stories to tel, While i's no surprise that Mac hardware and software playa leading rte in bringing ther creative talents to bear, it was dificult not to feel @ certain pride inthe thought that these are "my people” Mac users who dont just compute with theic computers, bout use them to ful their innate ned to design things bull things, and otherwise give form, shape, and life to their creative ideas. Sound alte dramatic, alittle highfalutin? Sure, but, come on, you're Mac users too. You know exactly what | mean, I'you know of anyone doing {a Sci short film so the finished product looks more eet es rg Payee etc Latte Ayers, coromsnccnier Aces Who's the final arbiter of hotness? Does anyone remember 11 sais anening runny tn montn? Robbie, in responce to Leslie's reminde ta send her Overhead fortis sue “We need strippers." No.... wire strippers. I think we might need to redefine me term ~notto~ eB | I've got 97 emails, 5 voicemails, aceut a cozen tings n trv bil end 0 cancy-Sel, wsting seco seta state ‘hay and set her desk on fie 998 MIL (2-09 wenmaete comThe bulk-free scanner to de-bulk your life. Meet the world’s smallest color duplex scanner designed just for the Mac. ito tas he a tet pe Fas Sex SLO le yawn at nse itty anlar tcaate toa oe thet satu 6 ap ois hn ooo ue en ee a a aA oP teh ne Sern Sas es eh @ A it ee Ne ‘stay organized no matter wher® fife takes you. Tell us how you'll ScanSnap. You just might win a $100 American Express gift check, Visit Us at /http://us.fujitsu.com/scanners/macife or call 1-888-425-8228. ‘ScanSnap S300M AC adapter and USB power settings * Scans paper sizes from 2 x 2 inches up to legal length § BJ ‘tomate documor fader holds upto 10 page ne-btlon seaming to POF and JPEG» Srae at speeds upto 8 A aan ee eee ora ee foe] Scansnap FUJITSU Agate SF BShance THE POSSIBILITIES ARE INFINITE oD Mocimmoctin — MacBall —_Isght SESS teat a areca>>>Share Influenced by the Influencers Usually your magazine causes me torun out and pick up the latest ot product or software, but 'mnapay to report Jonathan Twingley's Steadman-esque illustrations in “Top 10 ‘Apple influencers 2009" for the December 2008 issue have actually caused me to put down my MacBook and revisit Future Influencers ''m pretty much a dally reader of your site, sol wanted to share this with you, With all the emerging technology that is leacing the way to direct brainvmachine interfaces, | got to thinking what an Apple computer ‘might lok like inthe future. For my own amusement I created graphics for an Apple branded neural implant that | dubbed the ‘Think. This may fascinate some people and terrify others, but it isa glimpse into where technology may be leading us Paul Micareli >Thanks for sharing your concept art (pictured right). We came up with our ‘wn ideas on what may be coming down ‘Apple's pike. Check out our fauxtotypes In "The Future of Apple Design” (Jan/08, p22) or online at www.maciife.com/ article/eature/future_apple_design. —Mactite Office 2008 File- Compatibility Woes Inthe Ask section of your De 08 eaition, you mentioned varios options for people who are unable to open fe creates sing the new fie format in Office 2008 forthe Mac and Office 2007 for Windows ‘Another option worth mentioning ls Open Cottice, the fee, open-source alternative to Microsott Office: ttp/inww openotie arg, Unt recente avoided using Open tice because of various itatios. For along time, the OSX version require x Unix windowing environment that was tly ess user‘rienly than the Maes 400, South San Francisco, CA 94080 or eters FOR SUBSCRIPTION QUERIES: Ca 14 fearon >>) MIL reoe09 wwmmattecom YOUR OPINIONS, RA Hunter 8. Thompson's —Setn Odeld standard Aqua interface.) Recently, however, they released Open office runs in Aqua. tried it out ater some files in the new MS Word format that | was unable to open in my old version of MS Office. To my delight, Open Office 20 not only handles the new fie format, but is more user-friendly, stable, and responsive than the for-pay version from Microsoft. hope Mac|ife will do a full test and review of Open Office —Shelden Rampton >Great tip! We, admitted! ‘iven Open office 3.0 a whirl yet, but we covered its predecessor in our March 2008 istue (“A Penny for Your Apps?" p43). Might be time for another look! —MaclLite 0, which now received haven't Zapping Your ZIP Files In the "Deleting Your ZIP Files” question in your Ask section (Dec/O8, p10), you ect readers toa hidden application called Archive Uti, located System/Library/CoreServices. | looked for it, ang its nat tere, Spatight cart find it either. running OS X.Ast. Did {YU all to mention that Archive Utility is ‘only in OS X.5x2—Paul Palm > Sorry, Paul. You're right. This utility was called "BOMArchiveHelper” in (05 10.4... located in the same folder ‘on your Mae.—MaelLife Recording on Your iPod touch 2G [rmnew to the Macltife worl, and | am very impressed with your reviews! I'd love to see the Editors’ Choice section {et sore updates and include some more products. Do you have any information on a decent microphone on its way to the market? 'm a musician NTS & RAVES 's Fear and Loathing i Las Vegas. Bravo. >Yes, we wholeheartedly tip our hats to Mr. Twingley. And we hope our journey to the heart of the American dream wasn't ‘uite as savage as Thompson's. —Mac|Life ‘and would love to use my 2G Pod touch to record rehearsals, but will need something 9 little more "beefy" than the headphone mic Apples producing, What are the chances you know of a good sub-$75 accessory that works well with the 2G and some of the new recording apps? Thanks, and keep up the ‘reat work!—Matthew Udland >We haven't reviewed anything specifically for the touch/iPhone, but we would guess that any mic with the proper adapter should work. (And see p70 for ‘our reviews of auslo-recorder apps for ‘the IPhone and touch.) —MacILife PHOTO OF THE MONTH Paul Micarel isa man after our own hears His concept designs fr the future of Apple computing are mind-bending, iThink ee