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January 2011
First Looks: Dell's Groundbreaking XPS 15 Our PC Security Forecast for 2011 Make Your Own Ethernet Cables (and Save Money, Too!)
27th ANNUAL AWARDS
technical eXcellence
We recognize the most significant advances in tech— from displays to processors to graphics to social networking, and much more!
january 2011
vol. 30 no. 1
CovEr STory
PC MAGAZINE's TEChNICAL ExCELLENCE AwArDs For 27 years, PC Magazine has recognized groundbreaking technologies and products in our annual Technical Excellence awards. This year, we honor innovation in 15 areas, including chip architecture, product design, graphics technology, and social networking. Expect to hear more about these winners for quite some time to come.
PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION january 2011
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FIrST looKS
8 hArDwArE Dell XPS 15 apple MacBook air 13-inch Samsung nF310-a01 HP omni 100 Dell Inspiron Zino HD (Inspiron 410)
TECH nEWS
5 FrONT sIDE What's ahead for mobile apps; a self-healing plastic invention; the solar-powered nature of hornets; an app for pee breaks at the movies.
2 FIrsT wOrD: LANCE uLANOFF 26 JOhN C. DvOrAk 28 sAsChA sEGAN 30 LArry sELTZEr
14 CONsuMEr ELECTrONICs Motorola Droid 2 Global (verizon Wireless) Barnes & noble nook Color Panasonic lumix DMC-FX700 18 BusINEss HP Compaq 6000 Pro all-in-one Business PC Dell vostro v130 Xerox ColorQube 8870Dn 22 sOFTwArE Google Chrome 8 Cyberlink PowerDirector 9 Hulu Plus 48 ThE BEsT sTuFF
40 FACEBOOk PrIvACy TOOLkIT Worried you're accidentally sharing information you want to keep private to Facebook? read on. 44 MAkE yOur OwN CABLEs Store-bought Ethernet cables are often too expensive and too short (or too long). Here's a quick and relatively simple way to make your own.
PC Magazine Digital Edition, ISSn 0888-8507, is published monthly at $12 for one year. Ziff Davis Media Inc., 28 East 28th Street, new york ny 10016-7940.
january 2011 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 1
WikiLeaks Teaches Us No Data Is Safe
s the press and pundits pored over the thousands of documents (cable communications) released recently by WikiLeaks—the non-profit media organization that says it strives to "bring important news and information to the public"—I find myself pondering the other lessons this new breach teaches us. The biggest and most obvious is that the digital world is a porous place. Our secrets are only safe for as long as we share them with no one, in no fashion. I'm not just talking about government and diplomatic secrets. The government's WikiLeaks problem is really the same one we all face: your digital information could become grist for a rumor mill among your friends, family, co-workers or the world at large. Obviously, there's a difference between what you store locally (on your home computer) and everything you post online in, say, Facebook, MySpace and your online e-mail provider. It's harder, though not impossible, for hackers to get at your
2 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION january 2011
home network. However, if the incentive is there, they might try and do it anyway. according to a report on the BBC, WikiLeaks' diplomatic data came by way of a government network that was expanded in the early part of this century so government intelligence agencies could more effectively share critical information. Stovepipes of information may have hurt us prior to the 9/11 attacks and it was assumed that these more fluid information-sharing capabilities would protect us from another attack. My guess is that they have, but they also, naturally, leave that data more open to outright theft. networks connected to the Internet can be hacked in many ways. Sometimes it's malware that comes through e-mail and can surreptitiously mail network-bound data to e-mail accounts without your even knowing it. In the case of the WikiLeaks, it's unclear if someone physically downloaded the data to a portable drive or accessed it all through the network. What isn't in question is where the data came from or its veracity.
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If no digital data is bullet-proof, should the feds pull all their data off the network and go back to paper binders with red "ToP SeCreT" stamps?
If we accept that no digital data is truly bullet-proof, what is our government—or anyone for that matter—to do? Should the feds pull all their data off the network and go back to paper binders and giant, red "TOP SECrET" stamps? I'm not sure they've done away with that, but I also don't think an all-paper intelligence system is going to help anyone. Likewise, I don't think terrified americans should stop posting data online or storing it on their home PCs. Facing Up To Realities of the Digital Age For better or worse we live in the digital age. Perhaps it's time we started to embrace the benefits and consequences and maybe even modify our behavior. a more transparent government and diplomacy means that whatever people learn from the digital world will essentially support what they've heard in the real world. Likewise, people who like to post secrets and compromising images and text could start acting online as they do in the real world. yeah, right. This all makes sense, except when you consider that people purposely compartmentalize (who acts the same in their personal and professional lives?) and that there will always be secrets. People can avoid posting embarrassing information online, but they still need to keep personal, sensitive information about their lives somewhere safe. The home computer should be the spot, but the reality is that system has very little in common with the steel, singlekey-access, safety deposit box. If you store a piece of paper with all your secrets in a bank's safety deposit box, it'll be virtually impossible for anyone but you to access it. The boxes are in a guarded location, the box number is known only to you and the bank, and only you have the key. your home computer is accessible to everyone in your home. a password can protect the system, but the reality is that most home computers are not password protected. They're also usually on the network, which connects out the broader world. The most secure government computers have a bit more in common with safety deposit boxes. They can only be accessed from certain physical locations, they have complex passwords, their ports are either blocked or restrict data downloads. Despite all of that, regular people are now reading thousands of classified documents that came from a government computer. I don't really have an answer, but I do know the lesson of WikiLeaks: no data, no matter how carefully guarded, is ever truly safe.
FoLLoW me oN TWITTer! Catch the chief's comments on the latest tech developments at twitter.com/LanceUlanoff.
january 2011 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 3
Editor-in-ChiEf, pC magazinE nEtwork Editor, pC magazinE digital Edition
EXECUtiVE Editor
Lance Ulanoff
Stephanie Chang
Vicki B. Jacobson Dan Costa nEwS dirECtor Peter Pachal CrEatiVE dirECtor Chris Phillips fEatUrES Editor Eric Griffith SEnior Editor Brian Heater fEatUrES writEr Iyaz Akhtar managEr, onlinE prodUCtion Yun-San Tsai prodUCErS Mark Lamorgese, Whitney A. Reynolds nEwS EditorS Chloe Albanesius (East Coast), Mark Hachman (West Coast) rEportErS Leslie Horn, Sarah Yin Staff Editor Jennifer Bergen (blogs) CommErCE prodUCEr Arielle Rochette aSSiStant Editor Hilary Scott Utility program managEr Tim Smith aSSiStant dESignEr Jackie Smith ContribUting EditorS Tim Bajarin, John R. Delaney, John C. Dvorak, Bill Howard, Jamie Lendino, Edward Mendelson
dirECtor of onlinE ContEnt, EXECUtiVE prodUCEr pC labS managing EditorS
Sean Carroll (software, security, Internet, business), Wendy Sheehan Donnell (consumer electronics), Laarni Almendrala Ragaza (hardware) lEad analyStS Cisco Cheng (laptops), Tim Gideon (consumer electronics), Samara Lynn (business, networking), Michael Muchmore (software), Neil J. Rubenking (security), Joel Santo Domingo (desktops), Sascha Segan (mobile), M. David Stone (printers, scanners) analyStS Tony Hoffman (printers, scanners), PJ Jacobowitz (consumer electronics), Matthew Murray (DIY, components) jUnior analyStS Alex Colon (consumer electronics), Will Fenton (software, Internet, networking), Will Greenwald (consumer electronics), David Pierce (consumer electronics), Natalie Shoemaker (hardware), Brian Westover (hardware), Jeffrey Wilson (software, Internet, networking) inVEntory Control Coordinator Nicole Graham Staff photographEr Scott Schedivy Eric Koepele 212-503-5250 James Selden 212-503-4689 markEting managEr Lindsay Garrison 212-503-5270 wEb dESignEr Yoland Ouiya adVErtiSing offiCE 28 E. 28th St., New York, NY 10016-7940; phone, 800-336-2423, 212-503-3500; fax, 212-503-5000; www.pcmagmedia.com
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thE indEpEndEnt gUidE PC Magazine is the Independent Guide to Technology. Our mission is to test and review computerand Internet-related products and services and report fairly and objectively on the results. Our editors do not invest in firms whose products or services we review, nor do we accept travel tickets or other gifts of value from such firms. Except where noted, PC Magazine reviews are of products and services that are currently available. Our reviews are written without regard to advertising or business relationships with any vendor. how to ContaCt thE EditorS We welcome comments from readers. Send your comments to Internet address pcmag@ pcmag.com or to PC Magazine, 28 E. 28th St., New York, NY 10016-7940. Please include a daytime telephone number. PC Magazine's general number is 212-503-3500. The West Coast Operations number is 415-547-8000. We cannot look up stories from past issues, recommend products, or diagnose problems with your PC by phone. An index of past issues is at www. pcmag.com/previous_issues. For a list of upcoming stories, browse www.pcmag.com. For a full description of who on staff covers what, go to www.pcmag.com/whocoverswhat. pErmiSSionS, rEprintS For permission to reuse material in this publication or to use our logo, contact Ziff Davis' Director of Licensing, Nyasha Bass, at firstname.lastname@example.com, or by phone at 212-503-5256 or by fax at 212-503-5420. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without written permission. For reprints, please contact the YGS Group: telephone, 800-290-5460; fax, 717-399-8900; e-mail, firstname.lastname@example.com. The following are registered trademarks of Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc.: i-Bench, NetBench, PC DIRECT, PC Labs, PC MAGAZINE, PC MAGAZINE AWARD FOR TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE, PC MAGAZINE EDITORS' CHOICE, PC MagNet, ServerBench, WinBench, Winstone, Ziff Davis' corporate logo, and PCMAG.com. The following are trademarks of Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc.: After Hours, CPUmark, EasyComputing, ExtremeTech, First Looks, First Looks Plus, i-Bench, Lab Notes, Lab Tales, PC Bench, PC Labs Scorecard, PC Magazine At Home, PC Magazine CD, Front Side, PC Magazine Extra, PC Magazine Marketlink, PC Solutions, PC Tech, Power Programming, Quick Clips, ScreenDemos, SMB Boot Camp, Tech Notes, and WinDrain. Other trademarks and trade names used throughout the publication are the property of their respective owners. Copyright © 2008 Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. SUbSCription information For subscription service questions, for address changes, or to order, please contact us: intErnEt: service.pcmag.com (for customer service) or subscribe.pcmag.com (to order). tElEphonE: 800-289-0429 or 386-5974372 in the U.S. and Canada, 386-597-4370 elsewhere. mail: PC Magazine, PO Box 54070, Boulder, CO 80322-4070 (please include your postal address and e-mail address with any correspondence, as it will expedite processing). faX: 386-447-2321 in the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com (please type your full name, your postal address, and the e-mail address at which you subscribe). SUbSCriptionS: The one-year subscription rate is $24.97. PC Magazine is published monthly. If your e-mail address is undeliverable, we will have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected e-mail address within two years. baCk iSSUES: Print back issues, January 2009 and prior, are $8 each in the U.S., $10 each elsewhere. Prepayment is required. Contact customer service (above) for availability. For digital back issues, go to go.pcmag.com/digitalbackissues. mailing liStS: We sometimes make lists of our customers available to mailers of goods and services that may interest you. If you do not wish to receive their mailings, please write to us at PC Magazine, PO Box 54070, Boulder, CO 80322-4070. digital rEadEr: If you have any problems viewing issues, please contact Zinio at 888-946-4666 or email@example.com.
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What's New from the World of Tech
The Decade Ahead: An Epic App Explosion
Mobile app sales to grow more than 60 percent by 2014.
Mobile apps can transform a phone into a cookbook, a personal trainer, or a financial adviser. The number of mobile apps has grown to 300,000 in just three years, and a report last month from IDC said revenues from mobile app sales are expected to grow more than 60 percent by 2014. "Mobile app developers will 'appify' just about every interaction you can think of in your physical and digital worlds," said Scott Ellison, vice president of mobile and wireless at IDC. "The extension of mobile apps to every aspect of our personal and business lives will be one of the hallmarks of the new decade, with enormous opportunities for virtually every business sector." IDC said that market growth has been driven by increased demand for devices like tablets and smartphones; growth that is expected to continue with connected TVs
january 2011 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 5
and connected homes. IDC predicted that the number of downloaded apps will grow from 10.9 billion in 2010 to 76.9 billion in 2014, and that app revenues will surpass $35 billion in the same year. app stores for various platforms have reported positive growth this year. Last month, apple confirmed that the app Store had surpassed 300,000 applications in its catalog. In October, Google said that the android Market, which is soon getting an update, had hit 100,000 apps. The new popularity of tablets such as the apple iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab have further pushed growth for mobile apps. apple sold 4.19 million iPads last quarter, and after its first month, Samsung's Galaxy
Android APPs In addition to apps for apple devices, the number of android apps, like Lock 2.0, are growing steadily.
Tab sold more than 1 million. Earlier this year, a Gartner study predicted tablet sales of 19.5 million in 2010, reaching 208 million by 2014.—Leslie Horn
BEST of our BlogS
The insect also features a special pigment, called xanthopterin, that helps with the process. "Xanthopterin works as a light-harvesting molecule transforming light into electrical energy," Dr. Marian Plotkin told the BBC. Wasps and hornets tend to be more active during the morning, and this new research explains why the oriental hornet is different: It stays out during the day because there's more sun. —Andrew Webster APP sCout RunPee App for the Movies If you have an over-active bladder and always have to "use it" during what seems to be the best part of the movie at the theater, the runPee app can help you find the best time to take a pee break without missing out. Here's how it works: after you've decided what movie to see, simply open runPee and find the movie in its directory. after the opening credits are done and the movie officially has begun, start the runPee timer and it will vibrate to let you know when and for how long you can go potty without missing anything important. When you return, you can read what happened in the summary portion of the movie you are timing. —Terrance Gaines
GeArLoG Solar-powered Hornets! The oriental hornet is more active during the day, and tends to become even more active as the temperature rises. and now scientists have discovered the reason: the hornets are solar-powered. It turns out that the distinctive yellow stripe on the hornet's abdomen is actually full of tiny protrusions that gather sunlight and harness it for energy.
6 PC MAGAZine diGitAL edition january 2011
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Scientists Develop Self-Healing Plastics
real-life Transformers just got a little closer to reality. resarchers at arizona State university have now figured out a way to build plastic material that heals itself. The material, called shape memory polymer, contains a fiber-optic "nervous system" of sorts that can detect and address cracks over time, according to a report by australia's IT news. Laboratory testing has shown the material is capable of restoring up to 96 percent of an object's original strength. researchers said the material could be used in composite structures that humans can't normally reach, such as the Mars rovers, or the insides of satellites or wind turbines. Here's how it works: The fiber-optic network inside the plastic transmits infrared light from a one-watt laser; this highlights any loss of light due to cracks in the plastic. The surrounding plastic then absorbs the lost light, heating the material and making it 11 times tougher. In turn, that prevents the
MOrPhING PLAsTIC When heated, the plastic material called shape memory polymer retains its original shape.
Extreme Tech
crack from spreading, the report said. The u.S. national Science Foundation funded the work; the journal of applied Physics published the results last month. Products could be manufactured using the new material within as little as two years, according to the report. Microsoft is also working on a shapememory polymer display that offers genuine tactile feedback, which could usher in a new generation of touch screens. Its patent covers a touch screen design that includes a "shape-memory layer." When activated via a specific frequency of ultraviolet light, individual pixels can be raised or lowered, lending the displayed image some physical texture. Imagine an on-screen keyboard with individual raised "keys" that depress when you touch them. —Jamie Lendino
january 2011 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 7
Dell XPS 15
$1,115 direct
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Dell XPS 15
Groundbreaking, Many Times Over
The Dell XPS 15, a desktopreplacement laptop, is a wonderland of lavish features and cutting-edge components. It is simply one of the best laptops I've tested. And it can fit like a glove; most of its parts are customizable, so the XPS 15 can be completely over-the-top if you want, or priced to meet a certain budget. Covered in luxurious aluminum, the XPS 15 has a 15.6-inch widescreen that will blow you away, with its 1080p resolution. The screen itself can take images into another color space, as it's based on RGB LED technology, providing a wider color gamut. The XPS 15 also has a Skype-certified HD webcam—a laptop first—as well as floorthumping speakers, and every wireless technology imaginable. Its keyboard, touchpad, and mouse buttons offer a nearly flawless typing and navigating experience.
PROS 1080p resolution. First HD webcam on a laptop. Nvidia GeForce GT 420M graphics chip is also a first. Has Optimus technology. Excellent keyboard. HDMI and DisplayPort. Long list of processor options. Reasonably priced. CONS Thick and heavy. The 6-cell battery alone won't cut it.
The XPS 15 comes with 3 USB ports (two of which are USB 3.0, the other an eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port), DisplayPort, HDMI, and an HD Webcam. There's no shortage of wireless features either, including 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, WiMAX (4G), and mobile broadband (CDMA and GSM 3G technologies). Top-of-the-line components, such as a dual-core 2.53-GHz Intel Core i5-460M processor and 4GB of DDR3 memory, complement many of these high-end features, and undoubtedly contribute to the XPS 15's
SPECS 2.53-GHz Intel Core i5-460M processor; 4GB DDR3 memory; 500GB hard drive; Intel GMA HD and nVidia GeForce GT 420M graphics; 15.6-inch widescreen; 6.3 pounds; 802.11n wireless; Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition.
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Our raTINGS kEy: l l l l l EXCELLENT l l l l m VERY GOOD l l l m m GOOD l l m m m FAIR l m m m m POOR
strong performance. It emerged the victor in tests like Handbrake (2:45) and Cinebench R11.5 (2.3). It also earned top marks in PCMark Vantage (6,426), an overall performance test that takes advantage of yet another component—graphics.
The XPS 15 takes the cake when it comes to features, components and customization. It's as impressive as desktop replacements laptop gets, and that's why it's our new Editors' Choice pick.—Cisco Cheng
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FIRST LOOKS HARDwARE
Apple MacBook Air 13-inch
Sleek, Thin And Full of Features
hile its predecessor was thin and beautiful but a disappointment in terms of features, the new Apple MacBook Air 13-inch has added features and performance this time around that set the precedent for what's to come. The 13-inch version adds an extra USB port and an SD slot—features it desperately needed to compete as a laptop. It completely transitions to flash storage (SSDs), which made room for a bigger 50Wh battery and its over 5 hours of battery life. With a 1.86-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo L9400 processor and just 2GB of DDR3 memory, the MacBook Air 13-inch isn't going to set the world on fire in terms of performance. But if your demands aren't outrageous, it's fast enough to tackle any number of tasks. Compared with laptops like the Toshiba R705-P35, Dell V130, and the Sony Z1390X, it takes a lot longer to transcode a video using Handbrake (4:28) or render a photo with Adobe Photoshop CS5 (10:50). But the
Apple MacBook Air 13-inch
$1,299 direct
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PROS Added SD slot and extra USB port. Stunningly beautiful design. Twice as much battery life as its predecessor. Best clickpad implementation, period. Zippy wake-from-sleep times. CONS Pricey. Starting memory configuration only 2GB rather than 4GB. Intel Core 2 Duo processor based on two-year-old technology.
differences are negligible when it comes to surfing the Web, playing a high-definition movie, or working in Microsoft Office. With its extra USB port, an SD slot, and bigger battery, Apple has addressed the complaints Air users have had for the last two years, yet Apple still found a way to shave some extra fat off the frame. But for those bound by a budget, the Editors' Choice Toshiba Portege R705-P35 doesn't cost nearly as much and is a better overall ultraportable.—Cisco Cheng
SPECS 1.86-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo L9400 processor; 2GB DDR3 memory; 128GB hard drive; nVidia GeForce 320M graphics; 13.3-inch widescreen; 2.9 pounds; 802.11n wireless; Mac OS X 10.6
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FIRsT LOOKs HARDwARE
samsung NF310-A01
The Best Netbook Experience Around
Despite claims that tablets are eating into sales, netbooks are still key products. Standing out from the latest batch of dual-core, Atom-processor netbooks is the Samsung NF310-A01. It offers a great user experience, a high-resolution screen, more than 7 hours of battery life, and a nice price. The NF310-A01's lid is dubbed "Titan Silver," spruced-up marketing lingo to describe its reflective plastic. At 2.8 pounds, it is lighter than the HP 5103 (3 pounds) and Toshiba NB305-N410 (2.9 pounds). The 10-inch widescreen has a 1,366-by-768 resolution, a rare find in the 10-inch space. The NF310-A01 ships with a great keyboard that is 95 percent of full size, and is as comfortable as typing on a full-size laptop. Features are fairly standard: a 250GB (5,400-rpm) hard drive, three USB ports, VGA, Ethernet, a webcam, and an SD slot. Samsung NF310-A01
$400 street
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PROs Dual-core Atom. High-resolution screen. Full-size keyboard. Wide touchpad and soft mouse buttons. Reasonably priced. Over 7 hours of battery life. Easy to upgrade memory. CONs Glossy top is a little dated.
On SYSMark 2007 Preview, which measures overall performance, the NF310-A01 scored as well as every other netbook in this group (with 38). Its Cinebench R11.5 score (0.48) matched that of the Asus 1015PEM and Acer AOD255-1203. Battery life lasted 7 hours 5 minutes—nice for a small laptop. The Toshiba NB305-N410 is still a great netbook, but the NF310-A01 is our new netbook winner because of its dual-core Atom processor and high-resolution screen, for the same price.—Cisco Cheng
sPECs Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Starter Edition Processor Speed: 1.5-GHz Intel Atom N550 processor; 1GB RAM; 250GB hard drive; Intel GMA 3150 graphics; 10.1-inch widescreen; 2.8 pounds; 802.11n wireless; Microsoft Windows 7 Starter Edition
FIRsT LOOKs HARDwARE
HP Omni 100
All In One, And Under $600
The HP Omni 100 has something that most other all-in-one desktop PCs lack: a price under $600. The Omni 100 is well-equipped at this price point: 3GB of memory, 500GB hard drive, and a dual-core processor. It has most, if not all, the features you'd want in an affordable all-in-one PC, and it doesn't feel like an underpowered nettop. Like the Apple iMac, the Omni 100 is a screen suspended by an arm with a single tilt point. Unlike the iMac, which is made of aluminum, the Omni is made of black plastic. The Omni 100 has adequate, built-in speakers, six USB 2.0 ports, a 6-in-1 digital media card reader, a Webcam, Ethernet port, and audio ports on the system. The system's widescreen has a 16:9 aspect ratio and 1,600-by-900 resolution—not quite 1080p "True HD" but enough to display 720p online videos and 480p videos from DVDs. The Omni 100 is fast enough to keep up with the general PC user, scoring 3,066 on our PCMark Vantage test; it topped the 2,000-point scores of Intel Atom-powered HP Omni 100
$559.99 direct
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PROs Compact all-in-one. Attractive design. Great bang for the buck. Speedier than Atompowered desktops. Tool-less, easy-to-access chassis. CONs Not true 1080p HD. Only 60-day Norton Internet Security. Wired keyboard and mouse. A bit of bloatware.
nettops like the Lenovo IdeaCentre Q150 and Giada Slim-N20. On the Handbrake video-encode test, it scored a respectable 5:31, and on Photoshop CS5, it held its own at 10:48. If you're looking to stay below $600, the HP Omni 100 is an attractive all-inone entry level PC with a large hard drive, bright 20-inch LCD panel, and decent performance. Therefore it is our new winner for entry-level all-in-one desktops. —Joel Santo Domingo
sPECs AMD Athlon II X2 processor; 3GB RAM; 500GB hard drive; ATI Radeon HD 4270 graphics; 20-inch LCD widescreen; Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW optical drive; Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
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FIRsT LOOKs HARDWARE
Dell Inspiron Zino HD (Inspiron 410)
The Perfect Companion To HDTV
Here's the ideal centerpiece to your home-theater setup. This compact desktop takes up about as much shelf space as the recent Apple Mac mini, even though it's a bit taller. It has a quad-core processor, decent discrete graphics, a large 750GB, 7,200-rpm hard drive, MCE remote, integrated IR sensor for the remote, 6GB of DDR3 memory, and a Blu-ray drive. The only thing missing is a TV tuner, so the system can work as a DVR. Assuming that you already have a cable-company DVR, the system becomes the perfect HDTV companion. The Zino HD's outer appearance is essentially unchanged from the Inspiron 400 version. It has a full-sized wireless keyboard and mouse, a tray-loading optical drive and 4-in-1 media card reader in the front, and a plethora of ports in the back. Most notable, the Zino HD has an HDMI-out port for connections to large monitors or HDTVs, a VGA port, a S/PDIF port for digital audio, and two eSATA ports for external hard drives. Dell Inspiron Zino HD (Inspiron 410)
$849.99 direct
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PROs Wireless keyboard and mouse. Quadcore power. Discrete graphics. Blu-ray player. 802.11a/b/g/n, 2.4-GHz/5-GHz WiFi. Quiet and compact. Built-in IR receiver. Included MCE remote. Two eSATA ports. HDMI port. 6GB of memory. CONs Only 30-day trial to McAfee SecurityCenter. Thicker than Mac mini. Not user serviceable. No HDTV tuner. External power brick.
The Zino HD (Inspiron 410) is certainly fast enough to support HD viewing on an HDTV or large-screen monitor. The system smoothly displayed Web videos, DVDs, and Blu-ray movies. And since it has full Windows compatibility, it's more powerful on the Web and more flexible than Google TV adjuncts like the Logitech Revue or Sony's Blu-ray player with Google TV. It is the best compact entertainment PC available to hook up to an HDTV or large-screen monitor, and that's why it earns our Editors' Choice for compact PCs.—Joel Santo Domingo
sPECs AMD Phenom II processor; 6GB RAM; 750GB hard drive; ATI Radeon HD 5450 graphics; Blu-Ray Disc optical drive; Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition
fIrsT LOOks CONsuMEr ELECTrONICs
Motorola Droid 2 Global (Verizon Wireless)
Verizon's Premiere Business Phone
The Motorola Droid 2 Global is Verizon's premiere business phone. If you're a corporate customer and your company doesn't require you to get a BlackBerry, this is the cell phone you need. But it isn't perfect. If you're picky about your voice quality, you may want to shop around. The Droid 2 Global is very similar to our previous Editors' Choice, the Motorola Droid 2. The handsets have almost exactly the same body, but the Droid 2 is more powerful. Motorola has clocked the TI OMAP 3640 processor from 1 GHz up to 1.2 GHz and folded in a world-ready HSPA 7.2 modem without making the phone any larger, though it's a touch heavier, at 6.1 ounces. Just like the Droid 2, the Global is a sliding-keyboard smartphone with a 3.7-inch, 854-by-480 screen. There's a SIM card slot and MicroSD memory-card slot under the
sliding metal back. The four-row QWERTY keyboard is quite good. The Droid 2 Global connects to Verizon's CDMA EVDO Rev A network here in the States and to CDMA, GSM or HSPA 900/2100 networks abroad. It also has Wi-Fi 802/11 b/g/n. Reception on the Droid 2 Global is fine, but voice quality on the earpiece isn't great. Voices sounded muddy and indistinct in my tests, which was frustrating. Attaching an Aliph Jawbone Icon Bluetooth headset helped, and voice dialing worked through the headset as well.
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The Droid 2 Global is our Editors' Choice as the top smartphone with a keyboard on Verizon Wireless. It is pretty much like the Droid 2 but better. That said, there are reasons you might want other Verizon smartphones. The Motorola Droid X has a bigger screen, a better camera, and higher voice quality, but you lose the keyboard and global capability. Truly old-school, no-nonsense business folks will still want to go for the global BlackBerry Bold 9650, with its unparalleled battery life and excellent voice quality.—Sascha Segan
>> CLICk HErE fOr MOrE
Motorola Droid 2 Global (Verizon Wireless)
$199.99 direct
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PrOs Global capability. Good keyboard. Fast processor. Long battery life. CONs Muddy voice quality.
FIRsT LOOKs CONsuMER ELECTRONICs
Barnes & Noble Nook Color
More Than Just An eBook Reader
Ever since the ebook reader boom began, consumers have been begging for color displays. Now Barnes & Noble has released the Nook Color with a 7-inch color LCD display to satisfy this need. The color and contrast on the Nook Color's LCD blows monochrome E-Ink (used on the Amazon Kindle 3G + Wi-Fi and the original Nook) away. Also, because the LCD is backlit, you can read it without a light. The one significant downside is the battery life—Barnes & Noble rates the battery life at "up to 8 hours." Pretty weak compared with the weeks of use you can get out of one charge with most E-Ink-based ebook readers. At 8.1 by 5 by 0.5 inches (HWD) and nearly a pound (15.8 ounces), the Nook Color is both bigger and heavier than the Kindle or the original Nook. It's still light enough to tote easily, though, and we were able to comfortably use the Nook Color with one hand, which really isn't possible for long periods with the 1.5-pound Apple iPad. Reading on the Nook Color is very intuitive. You can move forward or back in books by swiping the touch-sensitive screen or tapping, and the display is pretty respon16 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION JANUARY 2011
Barnes & Noble Nook Color
$249 direct
L L L L m
PROs Bright, 7-inch LCD screen with 16 million colors. Intuitive touch-based navigation. Runs third-party apps. Deep social integration. Lots of periodicals available. CONs No 3G, just Wi-Fi connectivity. Proprietary AC adapter. Battery life is short for a dedicated ebook reader.
sive. Rapidly flipping through pages is possible in a way that would be unthinkable on E-Ink displays. With the original Nook and Kindle selling for just under $200 each (less than $150 each if you forgo 3G) and the Apple iPad starting at $500, the $250 Nook Color occupies a place right in the middle. It's not a tablet, and it needs to be charged frequently, but overall, the Nook Color makes a perfectly amiable reading companion.— Dan Costa and David Pierce
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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX700
Impressive Camera With a Hefty Price
he 14.1-megapixel Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX700 is extremely fast and can deliver great still images and surprisingly high-quality 1080i HD video. And with a bright f/2.2 lens with a 5x optical zoom, it shoots very well without a flash. The drawback is its hefty price tag ($399.95 list); competitors like the Sony Cyber-Shot WX1 and Canon PowerShot SD4000 actually deliver better highISO performance. The 3-inch touch screen is a joy to use. You can tap your subject on the touch screen to focus, and even shoot using the touch screen instead of the standard shutterrelease button. Besides automatic shooting mode, the FX700 features manual, shutter priority, and aperture priority modes. The FX700 can power up and shoot in an average of 2 seconds, and spends an average of just 1.4 seconds between shots (without flash). It also averages just .4 seconds of shutter lag, fast for any compact camera. If you want something faster, you'll have to move to a D-SLR. Recording video is one of the areas where the FX700 shines. You can use optical zoom and refocus while recording, an option
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX700
$399.95 list
L l l l m
PROS Great still images. Powerful video recording options. Bright lens (f/2.2). Touch-screen interface. Automatic and manual shooting. Negligible shutter lag. Fast burst mode. CONS Expensive. Dull LCD. Marginal high-ISO performance. Proprietary USB port.
many digital cameras don't allow because of noise from the lens motor. Panasonic slows down zooming during recording so the noise is extremely faint; you have to be really listening for it. If you want good-looking pictures, speed, strong video-recording capabilities, and a bright lens, don't hesitate to pick up the FX700—if you can afford it. If you can't, go with the Sony WX1 or the Canon SD4000. —PJ Jacobowitz
fIrsT LOOks busINEss
HP Compaq 6000 Pro All-in-One business PC
An All-in-One PC That's Fit For An Enterprise
he HP Compaq 6000 Pro is an attractive, all-in-one business PC with enterprise-class features, coupled with great performance. There's no doubt that the Apple iMac (Core i3) and its brothers have affected allin-one desktop design. The HP Compaq 6000 Pro All-in-One Business PC takes some of the iMac's most distinctive design features, and puts it on an enterprise-class PC. It has the power to produce everything from Web sites to Word docs to digital photos. If you're looking for an all-in-one desktop to spruce up or save space in your office, then take a long hard look at the HP Compaq 6000 Pro. Encased in a black plastic chassis, the 6000 Pro sports a 21.5-inch widescreen display with a 16:9 aspect ratio. The screen has tilt movement on a single-piece arm, just like on the iMac. The open design of the arm allows you to place the wireless keyboard
under the screen for easy storage. The desktop has the usual businessfriendly ports, including seven USB 2.0 ports, PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, Ethernet, audio, and a DisplayPort. The desktop comes with HP's sourced and customized software, most of which should be useful if your business regularly buys HP Compaq business systems. Among the software are HP SkyRoom, a high-resolution collaboration tool that combines video conferencing, instant messaging, and screen sharing; and HP ProtectTools, which manages your network and client security. The 6000 Pro was a solid performer on our multimedia benchmarks, thanks to the system's Core 2 Duo E7600 processor and 4GB of DDR3 memory. It handily beat competitors Lenovo IdeaCentre B305, Sony VAIO VPC-J113FX/B, and HP TouchSmart 310 on our Handbrake video-encode and Photoshop CS5 tests. The Apple iMac 21.5-inch (Core i3), our
sPECs Intel Core 2 Duo processor; 4GB RAM; 320GB hard drive; Intel GMA X4500 graphics; 21.5-inch widescreen; dual-layer DVD+/-RW optical drive; Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
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HP Compaq 6000 Pro All-in-One Business PC
$1,109 direct
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PROS Attractive all-in-one form factor. Easy serviceability. Back port cover. 3-year warranty. TPM, vPro, and HP business software, including FireFox for HP Virtual Solutions. CONS Only 60-day McAfee Total Protection (Antivirus, anti-malware, etc.). Integrated graphics.
Editors' Choice for mid-priced all-in-one desktops, is still our reigning champion, thanks to faster performance and a higherresolution screen. However, if you're looking to equip your workers with an all-in-one desktop that takes advantage of HP's enterprise-class business features, the HP Compaq Pro 6000 should be first on your list.—Joel Santo Domingo
FIRsT LOOKs BUsINEss
Dell Vostro V130
Its Battery Could Break The Deal
ell's Vostro V130 is a razor-thin ultraportable geared toward small-business professionals with an interest in style. Though previous models in this line suffered mediocre performance, the V130 is the first to get the latest Intel Core i5-470um processor instead of the dated Core 2 Duos. The potential dealbreaker, though, is that the V130's small 30WH battery lasted a mere 3 hours. The Vostro V130 is a light 3.6 pounds and is as thin as two magazines stacked on top of each other. It's thinner than the Lenovo ThinkPad X301 and Sony VAIO VPC-Z1390X. The metallic top is made of a hardened magnesium alloy. The 13.3-inch, matted screen offers 1,366-by-768 resolution. Its full-size keyboard is comfortable to use, and its pair of soft mouse buttons and wide touchpad make the navigating experience one of the best in the laptop world. The 1.33-GHz Intel Core i5-470um processor is a major leap forward for the Vostro line, and the V130 powered past the Latitude
Dell Vostro V130
$928 direct
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PROs Exquisitely thin. Sturdy. Fantastic keyboard and mouse buttons. Fairly priced. Fast hard drive. Better-than-expected feature set. CONs Small battery yielded short battery life. Battery is not removable.
13 in Handbrake (4:37) and PCMark Vantage (4,228) tests, but that's what you'd expect from a new generation of processors. As for the battery, Dell calls it a 6-cell, but its watt-hour rating is a mere 30, or the equivalent of a small netbook battery. The Vostro V130 lasted 3 hours 2 minutes in MobileMark 2007. Three hours of battery life simply isn't enough for a business ultraportable, so we can't recommend this laptop over our current Editors' Choice ultraportable, the Toshiba Portege R705-P35, which will give you a lot more mileage and power.—Cisco Cheng
sPECs 1.33-GHz Intel Core i5-470um processor; 4GB DDR3 RAM; 500GB hard drive; Intel GMA HD graphics; 13.3inch widescreen; 3.6 pounds; 802.11n wireless; Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Edition
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FIRsT LOOKs busINEss
Xerox ColorQube 8870DN
For Heavy Printing Needs, It's A Bargain
his color laser printer is Xerox's latest answer to anyone who complains that printers follow the razor industry's model: give away the razor to sell the blades. Conversely, the 8870DN asks you to lay out a lot of money for the printer in exchange for cheap ink. Print enough pages and the savings on ink will make the printer itself effectively free. The claimed cost per page for the 8870DN is 1.9 cents per monochrome page and 3.5 cents per color page. That's a savings of at least 6.6 cents per color page compared with other color laser printers. Based on that per-page savings, if you print just 250 color pages per week for three years, the savings in running costs will cover the entire initial cost of the printer. As for the 8870DN's print quality, text is a touch below what I expect to see from a typical laser, but it has the same crisp edges and is fully waterproof. More than half the fonts in our text suite were both well formed
Xerox ColorQube 8870DN
$2,499 direct
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PROs Low cost of printing, particularly for color, can fully pay for the printer itself. CONs Text quality is below par for a laser class printer, although good enough for most business needs.
and easily readable at 8 points and smaller. Print speed, however, is another issue. For text files, which don't need much processing time, the printer came appropriately close to its 19 page-per-minute rated speed in my tests. However, the first page in every test run took more than 80 seconds, so the overall speed for a 50-page file was a much slower 12.9 ppm. Even with the speed issue, which may have been a problem specific to the particular printer I tested, the 8870DN is worth considering for its combination of output quality, paper handling, and low running cost.—M. David Stone
fIrsT LOOks sOfTWArE
Google Chrome 8
Minimalist Design, Blazing Speed
Google Chrome 8
L l l l h
PrOs Super-fast JavaScript performance. Easy installation. Excellent tab implementation. Themes. Extensions for customization. Bookmark and preference syncing. Tab process isolation. Strong support for HTML 5. Built-in Flash player and PDF reader. CONs Occasional misrendered Web pages. Paranoids won't want to give Google another way to collect data about them.
Web content. You can print the PDF as you would any Web page. Minimalism has been a hallmark of Chrome since its first beta release. Tabs are above everything, and you can drag them out to the desktop to create independent windows (and drag them back later) or split them side by side. The only row below the tabs holds the combined search/address bar, or "Omnibar." And now there's only one control button—the Wrench. Our security expert, Larry Seltzer, considers Chrome pathbreaking in a security sense. The entire program architecture is internally sandboxed so that almost all vulnerabilities are unexploitable in a practical sense. And by integrating Flash they auto-
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MINIMAL INTErfACE
BOOkMArk MANAGEr
MENU sTrUCTUrE
sECUrITY IN ADDrEss BAr
matically update it. As for maintaining your browsing privacy, Chrome's Incognito mode (much like IE8's InPrivate feature) lets you move around the Web without leaving traces of your activity. Chrome's blazing speed, built-in Flash and PDF reading, and so much more make
it a compelling choice for everyday use, and it's our new Editors' Choice for Web browsers, though we're still eager to see how and when Internet Explorer 9 comes out in a final version; it may give Chrome a real run for its money.—Michael Muchmore
>> CLICk HErE fOr MOrE
FIRsT LOOKs sOFTWARE
CyberLink PowerDirector 9
Breaking New Ground In Video Editing
PowerDirector 9 includes nearly every video effect and output option you could ask for, including a capable sound editor. And as the first full, 64-bit Windows videoediting app, its response- and renderingspeeds are the best among consumer video-editing software. For basic video editing, PowerDirector 9 makes it easy to fix lighting and color, and to stabilize your video. Or if you just want the program to create a wrapped-up movie for you without much fuss, use the Magic Movie feature. Once it's done, you can dump the movie into the timeline for further tinkering. If you're looking to do more professional editing, PowerDirector 9 offers all the techniques you could hope for in a consumer video editor—up to 100 video and audio tracks that avail you of picture-in-picture, overlay, keyframing, and time codes. We tested rendering performance on a 3.16-GHz dual core with 4GB RAM, using a 4:34-second movie. At 4:07 minutes, Pow24 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION JANUARY 2011
CyberLink PowerDirector 9
$99.95 list
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PROs Fast startup. Fast interface. Fast rendering. Tons of effects and transition. Up to 100 simultaneous video and audio tracks. Advanced editing features such as keyframes and time codes. Blu-ray and AVCHD authoring. 64-bit native code. Uses graphics card acceleration and multiple CPUs. CONs No tagging or face tagging. No search for effects.
erDirector beat Premiere Elements, Pinnacle Studio, and Nero Vision. PowerDirector was also one of the fastest to start up: A cold start after a reboot took just 15 seconds. CyberLink's PowerDirector has all the speed and all the advanced features an enthusiast video editor could want. And by being the first consumer video-editing software to support 64-bit Windows, PowerDirector is taking a lead in the field. In terms of sheer features, it is second to none, making it our consumer-level video editing software Editors' Choice.—Michael Muchmore
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Hulu Plus
More Shows On More Devices
f you love the free streaming-TV service Hulu, you'll love Hulu Plus, a subscription service that offers a deeper catalog of shows and compatibility with more devices. Hulu Plus removes most of the content limits you face with the regular Hulu service, as it lets you watch a full-season or series worth of episodes for some of your favorite shows. You can stream content to your iPhone 4, iPad, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and some Internet-enabled TVs, in up to 720p. Subscribers enjoy over 120 seasons and 2,000 episodes of rich content. This includes current shows like 30 Rock, Family Guy, and Glee, and full series or multiple seasons of classic shows such as X-Files and Lost. It doesn't offer content from premium cable providers like HBO or Showtime, however. Since Hulu Plus is a paid service, we were hoping for fewer ads and quicker access to shows—episodes available an hour after they air on TV, as opposed to a day later. But Hulu Plus doesn't offer these things. Competitor Netflix has a similar streaming option for $8.99, in which you can watch episodes instantly on your computer,
Hulu Plus
$7.99 per month
L l l h m
PROS Deep catalog of content, including full seasons of shows. Lets you watch Hulu on a growing number devices. Works beautifully on iPhones and iPad. 720p HD quality video. CONS Netflix offers a better variety of content for a dollar less. Same amount of ads as in the free version. Doesn't work with Hulu Desktop.
PS3, Wii, TV, and other media devices. It also offers a lot of content, from providers including HBO and Showtime. If deep content is your top priority, Netflix is probably a better fit. But if easy navigation and better video quality is more important, go with Hulu Plus.—Jeffrey L. Wilson and Errol Pierre-Louis
john c. dvorak
Creeping Ever Closer To Regulating the Net
iven the events of 2010, it looks like 2011 will be a turning-point year for the Internet. a universal conspiracy to throttle the Internet began in earnest in 2010. Combine the WikiLeaks site with government meddling, and misguided hacker retribution on top of out-of-control botnets, and you can see the concern. Onerous spyware and the incessant tracking by advertisers trying to get an edge just adds to the mess. The Chinese censorship stories abated in 2010; the world seemingly had grown to accept China's censoring the Internet. after all, that is what China does. no big deal. Ten years earlier, everyone would have been up in arms. Twenty years earlier, boycotts and condemnations would have been underway. This attitude has actually evolved into a worldwide theme. Why should anyone have to put up with the Internet? Except for the e-commerce aspect of the net, it is something of a nuisance. The idea of regulating the Internet is evolving more and more, with better and better arguments
26 Pc MaGaZInE dIGITaL EdITIon january 2011
against the free-for-all nature of the net. The number of people who are pushing back on regulation and eventually policing the Internet is diminishing day to day. In the united States the agency that wants to get its mitts on the Internet is the FCC. after all, the FCC is about regulating communications, right? and if the Internet is anything, it is a communications mechanism. a Takeover: not So Far-Fetched I think the Internet is more susceptible to government take-over than cable TV because people will stand up for their TV viewing habits with more enthusiasm than they will the Internet, as weird as that sounds. For one thing there is no "mustwatch" anything on the Internet. There are Web sites and e-mail and youTube clips and other forms of non-linear shotgun entertainment. What would change for the average Internet user if the content was all licensed by the government? There has always been complaining in the united States about the press and its special
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The idea of regulating the internet is evolving, with better and better arguments against the free-for-all nature of the Net.
rights contained in the first and foremost amendment to the Constitution, which is part of the Bill of rights. It was at the top of the list of the Bill of rights for a reason. Having a free press is not the greatest thing in the world when you are running a corrupt operation, that's for sure. Even a mediocre media such as we have in the uSa can prevent that from happening with little effort. But a more aggressive press is necessary to reveal petty corruption, incompetence, hypocrisy and the rest. How hard would it be to push back on the First amendment just to minimize the showcasing of government idiocies and stupidities? Of course, scaling anything back is just step one in a process. The process usually leads to no free press. The Internet itself is today's free press. It's a virtual printing press. Getting words on paper or words on a screen are the same thing. and while some people do not like the news, that is no reason to end the First amendment, which is embodied in the Internet. The interesting thing about the WikiLeaks drama for the past few months is that it showed the true colors of a lot of politicians who apparently have something to fear. They ranted about how the operation supports terrorism. By their logic, pretty much every TV show ever produced supports terrorism. More than a few grandstanding Congressmen and women actually stood up before Congress and condemned WikiLeaks and terrorist organizations as if they were blowing up buses in jerusalem. The Government and the Inner Webs It was years go when the old-timers said that the worst thing that could ever happen to the Internet would be to let the government boneheads get involved. nobody in government even understands how the Internet works, though if someone told them it is a series of tubes that need licensing, they'd say, OK, let's license these tubes and stop all the crazy WikiLeaks and viruses and denial-of-service attacks, and everything in between. I can assure you that when the FCC decides to begin a process of licensing people to post on the Internet, the major media will hardly squawk about it, since they will get the first licenses and it will help them beat the competition. In the end, the viruses will still be there. So will the denial-of-service attacks and the botnets. nothing much will really change, except there will be fewer bloggers, tamer content, and no WikiLeaks. Problem solved.
DvoRak LivE oN ThE WEb John's Internet TV show airs every Wednesday at 3:30 ET on crankyGeeks.com. You can download back episodes whenever you like.
january 2011 Pc MaGaZInE dIGITaL EdITIon 27
Can Dell Sell Cell?
re Dell's mobile aspirations doomed? The head of Dell's mobile division was kicked out yesterday and the whole thing was folded into the company's various PC groups as Dell faced one too many failures in the cell-phone biz. But Dell is not alone. Except for apple, all of the top PC makers are having serious trouble cracking the fast-growing mobile market. under ron Garriques, Dell's attempts to build phones were marked by high ambitions and really, really bad execution. abysmal execution. Truly embarrassing execution. Garriques obviously needed to go, but the real question is: where does Dell go from here? Dell's mobile products so far were all visionary, but the visions were often bad. The aero was designed as an android phone that could be built completely to a mobile carrier's spec, as opposed to what Google or consumers wanted. That sells in China, but in the u.S., the aero got awful reviews. The Streak was a stab at an android tablet. That's the way the market is going, sure, but the Streak was too small, too early, and ran
28 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION january 2011
an unforgivably ancient version of android. and then there's the Dell Venue Pro. I still want one. When announced, it looked like the best of the Windows Phone 7 units, with a killer, portrait-sliding-QWErTy form factor. Dell even committed to handing out 25,000 units to its own employees. But I'm not convinced the Venue Pro actually exists, and that Dell has in fact built enough of them to sell. T-Mobile certainly doesn't, as it agreed to approve the device but wouldn't commit to selling them in T-Mobile stores. PC Makers Fail in Mobile Dell knows that to be a big player in the 2010s, you're going to have to be a big player in mobile. To the company's credit, no traditional PC company other than apple has so far been able to lead in mobile. after acquiring Palm, HP has basically blown a lot of smoke at us but not shown any impressive new products. Lenovo has decided to hunker down in China. acer struggles. asus's joint venture with Garmin just imploded. Toshiba's mobile business is a rounding error.
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Dell may have had to fail a few times before it could succeed. As Microsoft's Steve Ballmer said recently, it's still early days for smartphones. If Dell really wants to, it can start over.
a big part of the problem is acquiring competencies. Knowing Wi-Fi PCs doesn't translate into knowing cellular rF engineering—see apple's perpetual struggle with antenna design. Knowing x86 product design doesn't translate into comfort with arM chipsets. One of apple's brilliant moves there was to create an arM-based OS that had elements in common with its PC OS. Sales channels are also very different between PCs and mobile. PCs are sold at retail or online, of course. at least in the u.S., mobile phones are usually sold through carriers, and people like to try them out in person. Dell's three products show a very uncomfortable relationship with the carrier sales model. First the aero tried to fulfill carrier demands too slavishly. Then Dell started distributing Streak review units before aT&T had fully approved the product, possibly showing some sort of tension in the relationship. now Dell and T-Mobile seem to be in an edgy standoff over retailing the Venue Pro. What did apple, once again, do right? It's the only major PC vendor that controls a powerful brick-and-mortar retail channel, the apple Stores. Dell's engineers may have had to fail a few times before they could succeed—and as Microsoft's Steve Ballmer said recently, it's still early days for smartphones, and especially for tablets. If Dell really wants to, it can start over and produce some great phones. Give Them What They Want Dell needs to fix its execution, sure; that's obvious. But the company also needs to clean out its tin ear. The aero and Streak were drastic misreadings of what the market wanted. The Venue Pro looked like a product hitting its stride, although we won't truly know until there are enough Venue Pros to test out. What Dell can't do is just retreat into making mobile phones a poor cousin, a subsidiary product created by PC-centric teams and then tossed out into the market because of a sense of obligation. That guarantees the sort of dull, lackluster smartphones we saw HP barely bring to market before it got wise and bought Palm. I'm not convinced Dell has the internal competencies to do this. So what's its best bet? I'd say it should start by going back to where it got Garriques from. I hear Motorola's phone division is for sale.
STAY PHONE-SMART Keep up with the latest on smartphones by reading Sascha's column at go.pcmag.com/segan.
january 2011 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 29
LArry sELTZEr
Computer Security: How It Looks for 2011
ooking back on 2010, I think we had a generally good year in terms of computer security. We've moved past the era when PC users seemed to be in a constant state of panic over one vulnerability or another. So how about 2011? Here are what security vendors predict, and my thoughts on their predictions.
FrOM M86 sECurITy LAbs
"Malware will increasingly use stolen digital certificates to bypass whitelisting and code-signing requirements." There's something to this, but not a whole lot. The "trend" is based on two bad examples. The first, Stuxnet, involved two legitimate certificates in which the genuine private keys had been stolen, perhaps through physical theft. The second was a version of Zeus, in which Kaspersky's certificate was attached to the executable, but it wasn't genuinely signed, so the hash didn't match and the file generated conspicious errors. Stuxnet is not a trend, it's sui generis, and such private key
30 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION january 2011
theft is beyond the capabilities of all but a very small number of malware writers. any idiot can do the Stuxnet trick and look idiotic doing it. "Exploding smartphone market and growing tablet demand lead to more mobile malware." actually, "the year of mobile malware" has reached running joke status in the computer business. not that the prediction doesn't make sense, because it does, but it also made sense last year and the year before that and... you get the idea. "Botnets will thwart future takedowns; smaller botnets will become more prevalent." There were takedown attempts against botnets last year; some were successful. M86 notes this and suggests that command and control structures will become more layered and complex and the botnets themselves smaller ("botiques"?).
FrOM syMANTEC
"Spam will become more global." The population with Internet access in places like Brazil is growing so large that spam in
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Internet access in places like Brazil is growing so large that spam in languages other than english will rise above 10 percent of the total.
languages other than English will rise above 10 percent of the total. The growth of spam from developing nations will also grow. "Cybercriminals Usurp URL Shortening Services." This is not completely new of course, but Symantec says attackers will get more ambitious and perhaps take over an entire service, abusing link results. "Hackers Exploit Router Vulnerabilities." They expect to see malware-abusing known vulnerabilities in Internet-facing routers. Why now? They don't say. "Rogue Marketplace Vendors Exploit Online Digital Currencies." Symantec says that social networking sites will introduce virtual currencies, a la gaming sites, resulting in scams and black-market trading of the currencies.
FrOM FOrTINET
up winning and holding its ground against other botnets that try to attack it." It certainly sounds possible, but I don't know how they can predict such a thing. "Human mules will be replaced by malware that does the equivalent job of transferring balances between accounts using keystroke-logged credentials." Has this already happened? If so, I can see it being a good change of tactics. "There will be more advanced IM threats directed at the use of webcams and audio. Webcam-logging and audio-logging will become just as popular as keystroke-logging." There has already been some of this going on, and it only makes sense that it will continue to grow. Watch out for your own webcam!
FrOM TrEND MICrO
"Increased Global Collaborative Takedowns." Fortinet also predicts an increase in coordinated efforts to take down botnets and other organized Internet crimes. Makes sense. "64-bit Malware." The number of 64-bit systems has grown quietly, but sharply. rootkits and other malware targeting these systems should be more common in 2011.
FrOM NEIL DAswANI OF DAsIENT
"Some security vendors will run into trouble with their inability to store all the threat information with local signatures. They will retire old signatures which will lead to infections from old/outdated malware." This is a fascinating idea. I don't think I've heard it before, and I can see it happening. There is a lot of old malware still circulating, although I would think the aV companies know what it is.
Keep up wItH Larry Read his security posts at blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch.
january 2011 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 31
"A large botnet cyberwar; Zeus will end
Technical Excellence Awards
Our 27th annual look at the best advances of the year includes amazing innovations in wireless, displays, graphics, design, and social networking. By Eric Griffith and the PCMag.com Staff
Throughout the year, the staff at PCMag. com tests the newest and best technology in our labs and then tells you about all the juicy product details in our reviews. But sometimes, the very coolest technology is behind the scenes, powering those products. Sometimes the best doesn't even make it to end users, but it's still well worth talking about. That's why every year we take a breather from the hardware and software testing to consider what we've seen as a whole and compile a list of the year's most amazing inventions and creations in computing. This is the 27th year we've given out our Technical Excellence Awards. We've definitely come a long way from the dot-matrix printers
that made an appearance in the first year of these awards. In fact, the industry has come a long way since the dual-core processors, GPS chips, and pocket-sized projectors we found so thrilling just five years ago. A very long way. Now, multiple-core chips are the norm, GPS is in everything, and while we don't yet have a full-blown computer that projects its display, its time is coming. Expect it before you get your jetpack. Innovation in graphics, networking, software, and design continue, and they take not only the world by storm but also the hearts and minds of your humble editors and analysts here at PC Magazine. So without further ado, traverse through these pages for a look at this year's Tech Ex Award winners, and be sure to let us know what you think the most promising computing strides were of 2010.
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Apple iPad What more is there to say about the Apple iPad? How about this: It's a triumph of design that single-handedly established tablets as a worthwhile platform. It takes everything that worked for the iPhone and iPod touch and puts it on a grand scale.
AMD Fusion AMD will soon debut Fusion, its next-gen microprocessor architecture. Releasing an APU (accelerated processing unit) that combines the graphics with the CPU is a natural progression after the company bought ATI. The first APU for notebooks, codenamed Llano, was demoed in October.
Technical Excellence Awards
Wi-Fi Direct Feel like connecting portable devices to Wi-Fi is more hassle than it's worth? The Wi-Fi Alliance agreed and, on its own, it created this peer-to-peer wireless protocol (in other words, it didn't wait for some muchdelayed IEEE spec). Wi-Fi Direct lets newer devices automatically find and communicate with each other—no router needed. You can forget about SSIDs and passwords, yet it will be inherently secure. Think of it as Bluetooth on steroids.
Sharp 3D Phones You don't see a lot of phones made by Sharp in the U.S., but that could change in 2011 when the company brings its glasses-free 3D screens to handsets. They may even come with a 3D camera built in. With a pair of these, maybe watching Avatar on the phone wouldn't be so bad.
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Content-Aware Fill Hard to believe a product as mature as Photoshop could have any surprises left, but indeed it does. Version CS5 came out this year and featured Content-Aware Fill, a method of (almost magically) removing certain items from an image while leaving the background preserved.
Nvidia Optimus This automatic-switching graphics technology is a clever way of bypassing Intel's restriction of having third-party integrated solutions on its platform. It relies on the application the laptop is running. If an Nvidia chipset isn't in use, the laptop reverts to the Intel integrated graphics for power savings. This technology is similar to Apple's Automatic Graphics Switching (AGS) that's found in the MacBook Pro. Intel Sandy Bridge Intel and AMD think it's time the CPU and graphics processor (and even power management) all live on a single die. That should mean four or five times faster throughput when data is in the cache. Intel promises it will "revolutionize PCs again." The desktop and laptop versions of Sandy Bridge should be out early this year.
Technical Excellence Awards
Samsung's Super-AMOLED Screens Since its debut on the Wave phone, Samsung has moved its Super Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode (Super-AMOLED) screens to the entire Galaxy S line (our choice for best smartphone of the year, and for good reason). They're 20 percent brighter than the first AMOLEDs, use 20 percent less power, and have 80 percent less sunlight reflection glare.
CyberLink PowerDirector 9 CyberLink's consumer-based video editor, PowerDirector 9, is the first to go native 64-bit, and that, coupled with its use of graphics hardware and multiple CPU cores, means it leaves competitors in the dust with its encoding speed. For $99.95, the Ultra65 edition is a steal for serious HD video-philes.
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Power-Aware Cord This design by Static Energy+ Design Network for a Swedish nonprofit organization uses light to show you exactly how much power you're consuming. The cord glows and pulses when it's plugged into your electronics, pulsing brighter when more power is consumed. It will be hard to ignore, and it might clue people in to their power usage enough to get them to unplug vampire appliances. Here's hoping it becomes more than just a concept.
Sugru One designer's quest to have a material suitable for "hacking" products that needed a fix or patch has led to Sugru, a polymer that sticks to almost anything and cures into a flexible silicon overnight. The number of things it can fix—from shoes to sinks to USB drives and even the cracked case on your laptop or phone—may be as infinite as the imagination it took to create it.
Technical Excellence Awards
Sony NEX Cameras Micro Four Thirds changed the way we look at digital cameras by giving us interchangeable lenses on small body cameras. This year, Sony one-upped that tech with NEX, which uses a larger APSC size image sensor—the kind used in mid-range D-SLRs from Canon and Samsung—in a camera body that's half the size and weight of Sony's own D-SLRs.
Intel's Wireless Display (WiDi) We're still waiting for this sleeper technology to hit it big: At this year's CES, Intel showed WiDi, short for Wireless Display technology. While other companies have done something similar, notably Wisair, Intel's WiDi would come built in to computers rather than requiring a dongle to send signals to a receiver on a monitor or HDTV. When activated, the screen instantly becomes your super-sized monitor, sans cables.
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Apple's Retina Display The display experts say that Apple's new screen tech (currently available on the Apple iPhone 4) may have exaggerated specs, but nevertheless, it's the best mobile display currently available, even compared to the amazing SuperAMOLED screens. Considering that both are in their first generations, they're only going to get more visually dazzling on future handsets and tablets.
Google Wave Google Wave went public in May of this year. By August, Google said it was no longer going to develop it as a standalone product. It just didn't catch on. But it lives on as a server-based development by Apache Software Foundation for good reason: It's a paradigm of a new communications platform for the Internet, combining XML documents with conversations about and around them.
Your Facebook Privacy Toolkit
By Eric Griffith
ure, you like to share. But maybe not with everyone. And let's face it, if you post something on the Internet, and that includes Facebook, there's no guarantee it will stay private; other people can pass on what you said (just bask in the glory of Lamebook for proof). But you can still try to maximize your privacy on the leading social network by following these tips. but everything else can be limited so apps can't get the data (nor can your friends, or friends of friends). For example, the Instant Personalization feature is great if you want sites like Bing, Rotten Tomatoes, or Pandora to instantly know you based on your Facebook settings. Click the Edit Settings button for "Info accessible through your friends" and uncheck most of those, so your data doesn't become available to apps you're not even playing—it happens when your friends use them! 3) Limit Who Finds You At the top of the Privacy Settings page, click View Settings under Connecting on Facebook. This page lets you control who can
1) Create Block Lists Go into your Privacy Settings from the Account menu (this is easiest on a desktop or laptop system, not on a phone) and look for Block Lists at the bottom. Here you can block individual users by name or e-mail, block invites to applications from certain users, invites to events from certain users, and best of all, block applications you never want to hear from again. This also prevents that app from using your information. 2) Limit Application Data Use On that same Privacy Settings page, click the edit link for Applications and Websites. You can't limit who can see your picture, name, gender or networks you belong to,
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find you on Facebook through search, who can send you messages or friend requests, and even whether they can see what town you live in. The choices are to let everyone see these things, friends only, friends of friends, or friends and other members of your network. If you go with friends only, that's the smallest group that can interact with you and limits people finding or asking to be your friend...but maybe you don't want any more friends.
4) Make Your Sharing Private It flies in the face of the social aspect of social networking, but it's possible you don't want everyone to read or see everything you post. Click the Custom button under Sharing on Facebook (still on the Privacy Settings page), and you can limit who sees your status updates and photos, your biographical and contact information, even pictures you've been tagged in by others. And of course, it limits who can comment
on all of the above. Again, you can set it so Everyone can see them, all the way down the scale to Friends Only. 5) Don't Let Them Say Where You Are Places is for Facebook users to specify where they are when updating (a la FourSquare). However, they can also tag you as being with them—even if you're not. It's all fun and games until someone says you were at a brothel when you were actually visiting your grandmother. Go to the Customize Settings page, under Things Others Share, and take the time to edit the "Friends can check me into Places." This is also where you specify whether others can post on your Facebook wall, or can tag you in videos and photos. The less they can, the less exposed you are to non-friends. 6) Limit Your Contact Info Chances are slim that anyone outside your circle needs your phone numbers, street address, IM name, or e-mail—if they're really your friends, they already have it. Make sure all of the above are set to Friends Only, or at most, Friends of Friends, unless you want to be wide-open to contact by anyone and everyone. 7) Pick Viewing Permissions Per Post When you update your status in Facebook, below the box you fill in there's a little icon of a padlock with a down-arrow next to it. This is a dropdown menu that lets you choose who can see this status, from everyone down to Friends Only. If you click customize, you can
specify that it also gets shared with certain networks you belong to, or block individual people from seeing it (so that your ex who said you had commitment issues doesn't read that you're engaged, for example). You can also make that a default setting. 8) Don't Advertise for Facebook In the past, there were some controversies when people found their pictures from Facebook showing up as part of advertisements on the service. You can make sure this doesn't happen, with either third-party applications or ads on Facebook. Go to Account Settings and click the Facebook Ads tab. For both choices, choose "no one" from the drop-down menu. Then click Save Changes for each selection.
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account. If not, someone might have figured out you "cleverly" used the name of your dog or your birthday as your password and is accessing your account. Unlikely as it may seem, it can happen. Fortunately, you can track if and when other devices and computers access your account. Go to the Account Button, to Account Settings, and click "change" next to Account Security. You can set it so you get an e-mail or SMS message when a new device signs on with your Facebook credentials. This page also provides a rundown of recent account activity. 10) Temporarily Deactivate This is the ultimate security step short of totally doing away with your Facebook account; after all, the only true safety is never taking a chance. First, you can download your whole Facebook history with the new downloader tool, which is right above the Deactivation link—it's not necessary, but it's a good idea. Click the "deactivate" link on the Account Settings page and your Facebook account is put in stasis. When your account is deactivated, no one can find you, no one can friend you, no one can see anything you've posted (albeit some pictures and videos with others tagged in them will likely stick around). Deactivation doesn't delete anything. When you're ready to come back, you simply reactivate the account, and it's like you never left. Deactivation can be handy when you'll be away from the online world for an extended period of time. ■
9) Look for Trespassers Of course you know how to create a strong password and use one on your Facebook
sOLuTIONs NETwOrkING
Make Your Own Ethernet Cables
Tired of paying through the nose for cables that are either too long or too short? with a spool of Cat5e, a crimping tool, and modular plugs, you can quickly make the exact size cable you want. By Samara Lynn
t happens too often: you unbox the networking device you just bought and pull out the included Ethernet cable, only to find that it is far too short—or too long—for your needs. Most cables are at a fixed length, usually measuring no more than 4 feet. That length doesn't present many placement options for devices that aren't portable and are usually hard-wired to a network, such as routers, switches, servers, and naSes. Of course, you can purchase longer Ethernet cables from Best Buy and other electronic/computer stores. Buying pre-made Ethernet cables is the most practical option if you have just a couple of devices to set up on a small or home network. But what if you are responsible for a large network, or several networks, as a small-business tech con44 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION january 2011
sultant? Or, what if you need a super long cable that you just can't find in the store? The answer is simple: Make your own cables. Ethernet cables (also known as rj-45, patch, and network cables) are easy to make with a little practice and the right tools. Even with modest cabling needs, you can reach the break-even point and pay off the small investment you'll need to make your own Ethernet cables. at Best Buy, for example, a 6-foot, Cat5 network cable costs $19; a 25-foot cable is priced at around $33, and for a 50-foot cable, the price is $43. These prices are for just one cable. If you're up for the challenge of making cables yourself, you can buy a 1,000-foot spool of Cat5e online for between $65 and $120. you'll also need "heads," the modular plugs used to terminate an Ethernet cable; a 50-count bag will cost you under $10. and the crimping tool you'll also need will cost you anywhere from $10 to $50, depending on the quality and additional features you want the tool to have. But this is a one-time startup cost. you can buy one online or at a store like radio Shack. Follow these fairly simple steps, and you'll have Ethernet cables exactly the way you want them in no time.
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sTEP 1: Determine which type of cable you need. newer networking hardware, adapters, naSes, switches and routers are connected with what's called a straightthrough cable. This is the type of Ethernet cable that generally ships with today's networking devices. In some cases you'll need a cross-over cable for connecting older devices or connecting two hubs (a technique called daisy-chaining), or connecting two older laptops to each other (for file transferring, for example). Cross-over cables are rarely needed for networking hardware that's only about three or fours years old, thanks to a technology known as auto-MDIX, which can automatically sense on network ports whether a straight through or crossover connection is needed and will make the appropriate connection. However, if you want to link older equipment, check your device's documentation to see if the connection requires a cross-over cable.
sTEP 2: Get the right tools. you will need a spool of Cat5 (Cat5e is now the standard) o r C at 6 ( i f yo u r n e t wo r k i s G i g a bit Ethernet) cable. Cat5 or Cat6 cable can have plenum or PVC jackets. PVC cable is cheaper, but unlike plenum, it releases a toxic smoke if it catches on fire, so some building codes prohibit it. But if you're new to making Ethernet cables and your building allows it, your best bet is to start with PVC-coated cable. It's easier to work with because the wiring is not as soft as a Plenum cable's. you'll also need rj-45 heads that terminate both ends of the cable, a wire cutter (or a good, sharp pair of scissors), a wire stripper, and an rj-45 crimper. The crimper is used to secure the heads at each end of the wire. you can purchase crimpers, cable and plugs from a slew of online stores or radio Shack. sTEP 3: Cut the wire to the desired length and strip about an inch of the jacket off.
january2011 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 45
sOLuTIONs NETwOrkING
at both ends. at one end, arrange as follows: white-green, green, white-orange, blue, white-blue, orange, white-brown, brown. at the other end, arrange as you would for a straight-through cable: white-orange, orange, white-green, blue, white-blue, green, white-brown, brown.
This should expose the four twisted pairs of inner wiring. When stripping the cable, be careful not to nick the wires. This can cause problems with the connection. Do this at both ends of the cable.
sTEP 5: Terminate the cable at both ends. Straighten the wires out as much as possible; it will make them easier to place inside the rj-45 plug. Get the wires as close to one another as possible, holding them
sTEP 4: Prepare your wire for termination, or "crimping." untwist the wire. arrange your wires based on whether you need a straight-through or crossover cable. For a straight-through, arrange the wires, on both ends as you are holding and looking at the cable, from left to right: white-orange, orange, white-green, blue, white-blue, green, white-brown, brown. For a crossover cable, the wire arrangement is different
between your thumb, index, and middle fingers. Trim the wires down evenly to about a quarter of an inch. Here's the tricky part, which may take some practice: Slip the wires inside of the rj-45 plug with the clip side down. Don't try to jam the wires in; they should slip inside the clip and fit snug. you don't want to see any wires between the plug and the jacket; you want just a bit of the jacket going into the plug. you also want to make sure each wire is making contact with the gold leads in the plug. Take the crimper and crimp down on the plug, pressing the crimper firmly, but not too hard.
46 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION january 2011
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sTEP 6: Get out your crimper. With a steady hand, crimp down on the plug, pressing the crimper firmly, but not too hard.
sTEP 7: Test the cable. use the cable to connect a networking device with an LED indicating network activity to your network. Ensure you are getting a strong signal. you're done! n
go with it.
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Editors' Choices in Key Categories
For the complete reviews of these products and more Editors' Choices check out go.pcmag.com/editorschoice
DEskTOP rEPLACEMENT ALL-IN-ONE
Dell XPs 15 $1,115 direct
HP Photosmart estation
Dell studio XPs sx81002777NBC $1,149.99 list
$399 direct
samsung NF310-A01
$400 street
HP Officejet 6500A Plus e-All-in-One $199 direct PrOJECTOrs
sony VAIO VPC-EB33FM/BJ $629.99 list
Dell Latitude E5510
$884 direct
Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8700 uB $2,199 direct sCANNErs
Asus Essentio CM1630-05 $479.99 list
sony VAIO VPC-EB33FM/BJ
$629.99 list
Acer Aspire Predator AG7750u2222 $1999 list Cyberpower Gamer Dragon
$1,099 direct
Apple iPad (Wi-Fi) 64GB
$699 direct
Canon Canoscan LiDE110 Color Image scanner
$59.99 direct
DOCuMENT sCANNEr
Canon imageFormula Dr-2020u $645 list NETWOrkING 8x8 Virtual Office Pro $50 direct Cisco Valet Plus $129.99 list sMC sMCGs8P $300 street Cisco Network Magic Pro 5.5 $39.99 direct HDTVs
HP Touchsmart 310-1000z $1,159 direct NEW! HP Omni 100 $559.99 list
Lenovo ThinkPad usB Portable secure Drive $319 list
Western Digital MyBook studio Edition II $430 list
NETWOrk-ATTACHED sTOrAGE
Dell Optiplex 780 usFF
$1,484 direct
COMPACT DEskTOP
Netgear readyNAs ultra 6 6TB,
$1,349 street
Dell Inspiron Zino HD (Inspiron 410) $849.99 direct
LCD MONITOrs Asus VW266H $309 list HP LP2275w $349 direct Dell ultrasharp u2711
$1,099 direct
Lenovo IdeaCentre Q150
$399 direct
samsung PN58C8000
$2,999.99 list
LAPTOPs & NETBOOks
sharp Aquos LC-52D85u
$2,099.99 direct
Asus u45Jc-A1 $867 street
CONsuMEr uLTrA-LOW VOLTAGE
MONOCHrOME LAsEr
sony Bravia kDL-46XBr8
$3,999.99 list
Toshiba satellite T235-s1350
$630 direct
Brother HL-2240 $120 street
COLOr LAsEr
samsung LN52A750 $3,999 list
Toshiba Portege r705-P35
$899.99 list
Dell 1350cnw Color LED Printer $299 direct Xerox Phaser 7500/DN
Mitsubishi unisen LT-55265 BLu-rAy PLAyErs
$3,199.99 list
3,299.99 direct
sTANDArD INkJET
Toshiba Portege r705-P35
$899.99 list
Epson stylus NX625 $149
samsung BD-C6500 $249.99 list DIGITAL CAMErAs
PHOTO PrINTEr
Dell studio 17 (Multitouch)
$1,411 direct
Epson stylus Photo r2880
$799.99 direct
Panasonic Lumix DMC-Ts2
$399.95 list
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kodak Easyshare M580
$199.95 direct
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(Ps3 slim) $299.99 direct GPs DEVICEs Garmin nüvi 1390T $269.99 list E-BOOk rEADErs
Barnes & Noble Nook Color $249 direct
iWork for iPad $9.99 direct QuickBase $250 direct per month
Nikon D300 $1,800 street Canon EOs rebel T1i $899.99 list
sliderocket Free
Citrix GoToAssist Express
$69 direct per month
sony Cyber-shot DsC-HX5V
$349.99 direct
DIGITAL VIDEO CAMErAs sony Bloggie Touch 8GB (MHsTs20/s) $199.99 direct sony HDr-sr11 $1,099.99 direct DIGITAL PHOTO & VIDEO
VIDEO-EDITING sOFTWArE
Amazon kindle (3G+WiFi)
$189 direct
IPHONE APPs TomTom 1.3 $69.99 direct Navigon MobileNavigator 1.4.0
$79.99 direct
HEADPHONEs Bowers & Wilkins P5 Mobile Hi-Fi Headphones $299.95 list
BLuETOOTH HEADsETs
Air sharing $6.99 direct Photogene $2.99 direct rhapsody 2.0 Free GAMEs Halo: reach $59.99 list God of War III $59.99 list Alan Wake $59.99 list MuLTIMEDIA Adobe Acrobat X from $199 list Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 $99.99 list NEW CyberLink PowerDirector 9
$99.95 list
Aliph Jawbone Icon $99 list CELL PHONEs
CyberLink DVD suite 7 ultra
$129.95 direct
Adobe Photoshop Cs5 Extended $699 to $899 list Aperture 3 $199 direct
DIGITAL PHOTO FrAME
samsung rugby II sGH-A847
From $249.99 with contract
samsung Mythic sGH-A897
From $199.99 with contract
kodak Pulse Digital Photo Frame $129.95 direct POrTABLE MEDIA PLAyErs Microsoft Zune 120GB $249 list Apple iPod touch (4th generation with Camera) 8GB,
$229 direct
Apple iPhone 4 $199 list
samsung Epic 4G $349.99 list HTC Evo 4G $299.99 list LG rumor Touch
$79.99–$279.99 list
rhapsody from $12.99 per month GIMP 2.6.1 Free Apple iLife '09 $79 direct Apple iTunes 10.1 Free sECurITy
Apple iPod nano (5th gen.)
16GB, $179 direct
T-Mobile G2 $229 list T-Mobile myTouch 4G
$199 list
VErIZON WIrELEss
sPEAkErs/DOCks Beatbox by Dr. Dre from Monster $449.95 list Hercules XPs 2.1 Lounge
$60 street
Casio G'zOne ravine $149 street NEW Motorola Droid 2 Global
$559.99 list
OFFICE & PrODuCTIVITy QuickBooks Premier Edition 2011 $399.95 list Microsoft Office for Mac 2011
$119 list
Ad-Aware Free Internet security 9.0 Free Webroot AntiVirus with spy sweeper 2011 $39.99 direct Norton AntiVirus 2011 $39.95
MEDIA EXTENDErs sonos Bundle 150 $999 direct slingbox PrO-HD $299 list GAMING CONsOLEs sony Playstation 3 120GB
Norton Internet security 2011
$69.99 yearly
Office 2010 Professional
$499 direct
Norton 360 version 3.0
$69.99 yearly
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Hourly - Entry Level ($) - Est. Time: More than 6 months, Less than 10 hrs/week - PostedSkills: Virtual Assistant Data Entry
I need Admin support for very simple task. 1) You need to enter search query into Google 2) Find relevant websites based on keyword 3) Find email address and name (there are chrome plugins for that) For the 3rd one you really need to know how to find that information. Sometimes you will need to go into source code or DNS records to fin it. Also there are chrome extensions for this This could turn into a very long term project

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Logo Quiz Game Online Free GreekLogo Quiz Game Online Free Greek is a collection of products with 15 downloads. The most lightweight of them are Free Net Speed Booster (sized at 146,066) and Livesticker (sized at 169,578), while the largest one is Multiple Choice Quiz Maker with 12,766,122 bytes. It includes 8 freeware products like Sports & Entertainment Quiz and Funchatcam Client as well as commercial software like Exam Pro ($1628) and Rival Ball Tournament ($4.99)
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text:
Unplanned Pregnancy Guide
Adopt a Child Guide
International Adoption Guide
Adopt a Baby in the US Guide
Foster Care Adoption Guide
Guide to Becoming a Foster Parent
Adoption Home Study Guide
Stepparent Adoption Guide
Adoption Search and Reunion Guide
Why Adopt? Guide
Open Adoption Guide
Transracial and Multicultural Adoption Guide
Guide to Marketing Yourself to Potential Birth Parents
Adoption Tax Credit Guide
Adoption Myths Guide
Adoption Statistics Guide
Guide to Selecting an Adoption Agency
Christian Adoption Guide
LDS Adoption Guide
Adoption in Idaho Guide
Famous Adoptive Parents Guide
Famous Birth Parents Guide
We're hoping to share the joy of an open adoption with you!
Sledding, dance parties, and so much more are to be found here!
We believe in prayer, kindness, courage, laughter, and open adoption.
Hoping for another child to bring even more joy and happiness to our lives.
Climbing a mountain in a carrier. Snuggling. Reading books at bedtime. Exploring...
Exploring Europe, mountains, and beaches, we live an adventurous life!
We are an adventurous couple looking for a little one to share in our adventures...
We don't know you, and this is crazy...but here's our profile, so call us maybe?
Unconditional love awaits. We'd love to get to know you better!
Loving couple (children's book author (will be stay home parent) & attorney) yea...
Our child's health & happiness will always be our top priority, and that we hope...
We have a beautiful adopted son now and we hope to find him a new best friend si...
Please take a moment to look at my profile. I am looking forward to sharing a li...
We go through each day creatively & would love a little one to join our team and...
I know that things don't always work out as planned. But maybe we can figure out...
We love life, and children would make it even better!
Hearts ready and waiting to love and cherish! We are praying for a family!
Thank you for taking the time to get to know us a little better. We look forward...
We are the easiest people in the world to talk to....we love family, the outdoor...
Life is tough sweetheart and so are you
"Jason and Eric did a great job helping us with our step parent adoption. They always kept me in the loop with everything goi..."
Brandie Nelson|2 months ago
"I was adopted when I was young I'm having a hard time looking for my real parents I need help please I would appreciate it I..."
Christina riggs|1 year ago
"Kim Perry has been nothing less than fantastic, she has answered our questions without overwhelming us with information we we..."
Williams Chris|8 months ago
"Rebecca Bruce assisted my family in the adoption of our new baby girl. Rebecca understood our values, having personally adopt..."
Steven|5 months ago
"I love to adopt 6kids I love kids "
BrianSmith|2 months ago
"We were impressed with Millcreek the moment we first met with them! They truly care about their clients and provide not only..."
Hillary Laurence|5 months ago
"I'm really not sure how to start this so I will just ask my two youngest boys have been adopted out but not my oldest son he..."
Misty D Miller|5 months ago
"I was trying to find my adopted son in hopes that his adopted parents would just send pictures so I personally would know he..."
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"We loved the social worker who performed our home studies - she was kind, informative, and really made us feel like she cared..."
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"Berhany Winter Garden was amazing through both of our daughters adoptions. Not only do they provide wonderful education and..."
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"Lisa has been more than wonderful through our home study process. She is kind, reliable, and so great to work with! She made..."
Stacie|9 months ago
"We were matched with an expectant mom at CSS and had a face to face with her and loved the whole experience. I loved the ca..."
Alison Lowe|1 year ago
Adoption Laws in the United States
Adoption Celebrities
Adoption Encyclopedia
Adoption Parenting
Affording Adoption
International Adoption
Pregnancy Calendar (Week by Week)
Pregnancy Guide
Special Needs


text:
Installing Windows 7 from a DVD on a computer with no optical drive
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