pc magazine (january 2011)

January 2011

We recognize the most significant advances in tech—from displays to processors to graphics to social networking, and much more!

technical eXcellence

27th ANNUAL AWARDS

facebook privacy toolkit

First Looks: Dell’s Groundbreaking XPS 15

Our PC Security Forecast for 2011

Make Your Own Ethernet Cables (and Save Money, Too!)

PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION january 2011

january 2011 vol. 30 no. 1

32 CovEr STory PC MAGAZINE’s TEChNICAL ExCELLENCE AwArDs

For 27 years, PC Magazine has recognized groundbreaking technologies and prod-

ucts 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.

january 2011 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 1

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.

8 hArDwArE

Dell XPS 15

apple MacBook air 13-inch

Samsung nF310-a01

HP omni 100

Dell Inspiron Zino HD (Inspiron 410)

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

FIrST looKS 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.

oPInIonS 2 FIrsT wOrD:

LANCE uLANOFF

26 JOhN C. DvOrAk

28 sAsChA sEGAN

30 LArry sELTZEr

SoluTIonS40 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.

16 22

storemags & fantamag - magazines for all

2 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION january 2011

FIRST WORD LANCE ULANOFF

As the press and pundits pored

over the thousands of docu-

ments (cable communica-

tions) 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

home network. However, if the incentive is

there, they might try and do it anyway.

according to a report on the BBC, Wiki-

Leaks’ 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 effec-

tively 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, natu-

rally, 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.

WikiLeaks Teaches Us No Data Is Safe


FoLLoW me oN TWITTer! Catch the chief’s comments on the latest tech developments at twitter.com/LanceUlanoff.

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?

tive information about their lives some-

where safe. The home computer should be

the spot, but the reality is that system has

very little in common with the steel, single-

key-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 loca-

tion, the box number is known only to you

and the bank, and only you have the key.

your home computer is accessible to every-

one 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 comput-

ers 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 read-

ing 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.

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 trans-

parent 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 compart-

mentalize (who acts the same in their per-

sonal and professional lives?) and that there

will always be secrets. People can avoid

posting embarrassing information online,

but they still need to keep personal, sensi-


Editor-in-ChiEf, pC magazinE nEtwork Lance Ulanoff

Editor, pC magazinE digital Edition Stephanie ChangdirECtor of onlinE ContEnt, EXECUtiVE prodUCEr Vicki B. JacobsonEXECUtiVE Editor Dan CostanEwS dirECtor Peter PachalCrEatiVE dirECtor Chris Phillips fEatUrES Editor Eric GriffithSEnior Editor Brian HeaterfEatUrES writEr Iyaz AkhtarmanagEr, onlinE prodUCtion Yun-San Tsai prodUCErS Mark Lamorgese, Whitney A. ReynoldsnEwS EditorS Chloe Albanesius (East Coast), Mark Hachman (West Coast) rEportErS Leslie Horn, Sarah YinStaff Editor Jennifer Bergen (blogs)CommErCE prodUCEr Arielle RochetteaSSiStant Editor Hilary ScottUtility program managEr Tim Smith aSSiStant dESignEr Jackie SmithContribUting EditorS Tim Bajarin, John R. Delaney, John C. Dvorak, Bill Howard, Jamie Lendino, Edward Mendelson

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 GrahamStaff photographEr Scott Schedivy SEnior ViCE prESidEnt, digital SalES Eric Koepele 212-503-5250ViCE prESidEnt, markEting James Selden 212-503-4689markEting managEr Lindsay Garrison 212-503-5270wEb dESignEr Yoland OuiyaadVErtiSing offiCE 28 E. 28th St., New York, NY 10016-7940; phone, 800-336-2423, 212-503-3500; fax, 212-503-5000; www.pcmagmedia.com

ziff daViS inC.ChiEf EXECUtiVE offiCEr Vivek ShahChiEf finanCial offiCEr and SEnior ViCE prESidEnt Neil GlassChiEf opErating offiCEr Steven Horowitz gEnEral CoUnSEl Stephen HicksSEnior ViCE prESidEnt, ContEnt Lance Ulanoff SEnior ViCE prESidEnt and gEnEral managEr, data SolUtionS Bennett ZuckerSEnior ViCE prESidEnt, bUSinESS dEVElopmEnt Anurag HarshSEnior ViCE prESidEnt, digital SalES Eric KoepeleViCE prESidEntS Larry Chevres (Engineering), James Selden (Marketing)dirECtor Joseph Mirabella (Licensing)

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FrontWhat’s New from the World of Tech

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 wire-

less 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

The Decade Ahead: An Epic App ExplosionMobile app sales to grow more than 60 percent by 2014.


frontside

6 PC MAGAZine diGitAL edition january 2011

GeArLoGSolar-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 sun-light and harness it for energy.

The insect also features a special pigment, called xan-thopterin, that helps with the process. “Xanthopterin works as a light-harvesting molecule transforming light into electri-cal energy,” Dr. Marian Plotkin told the BBC. Wasps and hor-nets tend to be more active during the morning, and this new research explains why the oriental hornet is differ-ent: 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 open-ing 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 with-out missing anything impor-tant. When you return, you can read what happened in the summary portion of the movie you are timing. —Terrance Gaines

Android APPs In

addition to apps

for apple devices,

the number of

android apps, like

Lock 2.0, are grow-

ing steadily.

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

BEST of our BlogS

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


Scientists Develop Self-HealingPlastics

Extreme Tech

MOrPhING PLAsTIC When heated, the plastic

material called shape memory polymer retains

its original shape.

real-life Transformers just got a little closer

to reality. resarchers at arizona State uni-

versity have now figured out a way to build

plastic material that heals itself.

The material, called shape memory poly-

mer, contains a fiber-optic “nervous sys-

tem” of sorts that can detect and address

cracks over time, according to a report by

australia’s IT news.

Laboratory testing has shown the mate-

rial 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 rov-

ers, or the insides of satellites or wind tur-

bines.

Here’s how it works: The fiber-optic net-

work 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

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 shape-

memory polymer display that offers genu-

ine 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 physi-

cal texture. Imagine an on-screen keyboard

with individual raised “keys” that depress

when you touch them. —Jamie Lendino


8 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION JANUARY 2011

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, Blue-

tooth, 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 pro-

cessor and 4GB of DDR3 memory, comple-

ment many of these high-end features, and

undoubtedly contribute to the XPS 15’s

The Dell XPS 15, a desktop-

replacement laptop, is a won-

derland 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 tech-

nology, providing a wider color gamut.

The XPS 15 also has a Skype-certified HD

webcam —a laptop first—as well as floor-

thumping speakers, and every wireless tech-

nology imaginable. Its keyboard, touchpad,

and mouse buttons offer a nearly flawless

typing and navigating experience.

First INSIDE 8 HARDWARE 14 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS 18 BUSINESS 22 SOFTWARE

Dell XPS 15

DellXPS15$1,115 directL l l l h

PROS 1080p resolution. First HD webcam on a laptop. Nvidia GeForce GT 420M graphics chip is also a first. Has Optimus technology. Excel-lent keyboard. HDMI and DisplayPort. Long list of processor options. Reasonably priced.

CONS Thick and heavy. The 6-cell battery alone won’t cut it.

Groundbreaking,ManyTimesOver

ISPECS 2.53-GHz Intel Core i5-460M processor; 4GB DDR3 memory; 500GB hard drive; Intel GMA HD and nVidia Ge-Force GT 420M graphics; 15.6-inch widescreen; 6.3 pounds; 802.11n wireless; Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition.

JANUARY 2011 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 9

OurraTINGSkEy:

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 vic-

tor in tests like Handbrake (2:45) and Cine-

bench R11.5 (2.3). It also earned top marks

in PCMark Vantage (6,426), an overall per-

formance test that takes advantage of yet

another component—graphics.

The XPS 15 takes the cake when it comes

to features, components and customiza-

tion. It’s as impressive as desktop replace-

ments laptop gets, and that’s why it’s our

new Editors’ Choice pick.—Cisco Cheng

>> CLICk HERE FOR MORE



While its predecessor

was thin and beautiful

but a disappointment

in terms of features, the

new Apple MacBook

Air 13-inch has added features and perfor-

mance this time around that set the prec-

edent 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 com-

pletely transitions to flash storage (SSDs),

which made room for a bigger 50Wh bat-

tery 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

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

>> CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch

Sleek, Thin And Full of Features

ISPECS 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

FIRST LOOKS HARDwARE

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch $1,299 directl l l l m

PROS Added SD slot and extra USB port. Stun-ningly beautiful design. Twice as much battery life as its predecessor. Best clickpad implemen-tation, 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.


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 reso-

lution, a rare find in the 10-inch space.

The NF310-A01 ships with a great key-

board that is 95 percent of full size, and is

as comfortable as typing on a full-size lap-

top. Features are fairly standard: a 250GB

(5,400-rpm) hard drive, three USB ports,

VGA, Ethernet, a webcam, and an SD slot.

On SYSMark 2007 Preview, which mea-

sures 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 net-

book winner because of its dual-core Atom

processor and high-resolution screen, for

the same price.—Cisco Cheng


FIRsT LOOKs HARDwARE

samsung NF310-A01

The Best Netbook Experience Around

Samsung NF310-A01$400 streetL l l l h

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.

IsPECs Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Starter Edition Processor Speed: 1.5-GHz Intel Atom N550 pro-cessor; 1GB RAM; 250GB hard drive; Intel GMA 3150 graphics; 10.1-inch widescreen; 2.8 pounds; 802.11n wireless; Microsoft Windows 7 Starter Edition



The HP Omni 100 has something

that most other all-in-one desk-

top 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 proces-

sor. 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 speak-

ers, 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

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-in-

one entry level PC with a large hard drive,

bright 20-inch LCD panel, and decent

performance. Therefore it is our new win-

ner for entry-level all-in-one desktops.

—Joel Santo Domingo


HP Omni 100

FIRsT LOOKs HARDwARE

All In One, And Under $600

IsPECs 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

HP Omni 100$559.99 directl l l l h

PROs Compact all-in-one. Attractive design. Great bang for the buck. Speedier than Atom-powered 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.


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 Win-

dows 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


Dell Inspiron Zino HD (Inspiron 410)

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, inte-

grated 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 essen-

tially unchanged from the Inspiron 400 ver-

sion. 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 con-

nections to large monitors or HDTVs, a VGA

port, a S/PDIF port for digital audio, and

two eSATA ports for external hard drives.

FIRsT LOOKs HARDWARE

The Perfect Companion To HDTV

IsPECs AMD Phenom II processor; 6GB RAM; 750GB hard drive; ATI Radeon HD 5450 graphics; Blu-Ray Disc opti-cal drive; Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition

Dell Inspiron Zino HD (Inspiron 410)$849.99 directl l l l m

PROs Wireless keyboard and mouse. Quad-core 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 Security-Center. Thicker than Mac mini. Not user service-able. No HDTV tuner. External power brick.



The Motorola Droid 2 Global

is Verizon’s premiere business

phone. If you’re a corporate cus-

tomer 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 power-

ful. 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 slid-

ing-keyboard smartphone with a 3.7-inch,

854-by-480 screen. There’s a SIM card slot

and MicroSD memory-card slot under the

Motorola Droid 2 Global (Verizon Wireless)

fIrsT LOOks CONsuMEr ELECTrONICs

Verizon’s Premiere Business Phone

sliding metal back. The four-row QWERTY

keyboard is quite good.

The Droid 2 Global connects to Veri-

zon’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.


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 rea-

sons you might want other Verizon smart-

phones. 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-non-

sense 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 directl l l l m

PrOs Global capability. Good keyboard. Fast pro-cessor. Long battery life.

CONs Muddy voice quality.



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 Col-

or’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 bat-

tery life—Barnes & Noble rates the battery

life at “up to 8 hours.” Pretty weak com-

pared 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 intui-

tive. You can move forward or back in books

by swiping the touch-sensitive screen or

tapping, and the display is pretty respon-

sive. Rapidly flipping through pages is pos-

sible in a way that would be unthinkable on

E-Ink displays.

With the original Nook and Kindle sell-

ing 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 fre-

quently, but overall, the Nook Color makes

a perfectly amiable reading companion.—

Dan Costa and David Pierce


Barnes & Noble Nook Color

FIRsT LOOKs CONsuMER ELECTRONICs

More Than Just An eBook Reader

Barnes & Noble Nook Color$249 directL 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. Propri-etary AC adapter. Battery life is short for a dedicated ebook reader.


The 14.1-megapixel Pana-

sonic 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 Power-

Shot SD4000 actually deliver better high-

ISO 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 shutter-

release 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 aver-

age of just 1.4 seconds between shots (with-

out 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

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


Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX700$399.95 listL l l l m

PROS Great still images. Powerful video record-ing 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.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX700

FIRST LOOKS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

Impressive Camera With a Hefty Price



The HP Compaq 6000 Pro is an

attractive, all-in-one business

PC with enterprise-class fea-

tures, coupled with great per-

formance.

There’s no doubt that the Apple iMac

(Core i3) and its brothers have affected all-

in-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 dis-

play 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 business-

friendly ports, including seven USB 2.0

ports, PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports, Eth-

ernet, 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-res-

olution 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 com-

petitors 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

fIrsT LOOks busINEss

HP Compaq 6000 Pro All-in-One business PC

An All-in-One PC That’s Fit For An Enterprise

IsPECs 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


HP Compaq 6000 Pro All-in-One Business PC$1,109 directl l l l m

PROS Attractive all-in-one form factor. Easy service-ability. 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.). Integrat-ed graphics.

Editors’ Choice for mid-priced all-in-one

desktops, is still our reigning champion,

thanks to faster performance and a higher-

resolution screen. However, if you’re look-

ing 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




Dell’s Vostro V130 is a razor-thin

ultraportable geared toward

small-business profession-

als 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 deal-

breaker, 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 resolu-

tion. Its full-size keyboard is comfortable to

use, and its pair of soft mouse buttons and

wide touchpad make the navigating experi-

ence one of the best in the laptop world.

The 1.33-GHz Intel Core i5-470um proces-

sor is a major leap forward for the Vostro

line, and the V130 powered past the Latitude

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 ultraport-

able, so we can’t recommend this laptop

over our current Editors’ Choice ultraport-

able, the Toshiba Portege R705-P35,

which will give you a lot more mileage and

power.—Cisco Cheng


Dell Vostro V130

FIRsT LOOKs BUsINEss

Dell Vostro V130$928 directL l l m m

PROs Exquisitely thin. Sturdy. Fantastic key-board and mouse buttons. Fairly priced. Fast hard drive. Better-than-expected feature set.

CONs Small battery yielded short battery life. Battery is not removable.

Its Battery Could Break The Deal

IsPECs 1.33-GHz Intel Core i5-470um processor; 4GB DDR3 RAM; 500GB hard drive; Intel GMA HD graphics; 13.3-inch widescreen; 3.6 pounds; 802.11n wireless; Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Edition


and easily readable at 8 points and smaller.

Print speed, however, is another issue. For

text files, which don’t need much process-

ing 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 par-

ticular 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 busINEss

This color laser printer is

Xerox’s latest answer to any-

one 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 sav-

ings 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

For Heavy Printing Needs, It’s A Bargain

Xerox ColorQube 8870DN$2,499 directL l l h m

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 busi-ness needs.



With Chrome, Google single-

handedly set off a browser revolu-

tion on several fronts: Its blazingly

fast JavaScript performance

kicked competitors like Firefox,

Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera into a

speed race. It also started the trend of min-

imizing the application’s window to let the

Web page shine unimpeded. The current

release takes this to the extreme, with but

a single menu button. It’s also the most fre-

quently updated browser, now at version 8

after a little over two years of existence.

This latest release brings with it a built-

in PDF reader, along with some bug and

security fixes. The fine, simplistic design,

compatibility, and especially the speed

have impressed the Web community

enough to make Chrome the fastest-grow-

ing browser, as it nears 10-percent market

share.

Chrome is the only browser to come with

Adobe Flash built in, rather than requir-

ing a separate (and annoying) installation.

Chrome also boasts a PDF reader, so you

don’t have to worry about installing any

Adobe plugins for viewing specialized

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, con-

siders Chrome pathbreaking in a security

sense. The entire program architecture is

internally sandboxed so that almost all vul-

nerabilities are unexploitable in a practical

sense. And by integrating Flash they auto-

fIrsT LOOks sOfTWArE

Minimalist Design, Blazing Speed

Google Chrome 8

Google Chrome 8FreeL l l l h

PrOs Super-fast JavaScript performance. Easy installation. Excellent tab implementa-tion. 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.


matically update it. As for maintaining

your browsing privacy, Chrome’s Incog-

nito mode (much like IE8’s InPrivate fea-

ture) 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 brows-

ers, 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

MINIMAL INTErfACE BOOkMArk MANAGEr

sECUrITY IN ADDrEss BArMENU sTrUCTUrE



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 video-

editing app, its response- and rendering-

speeds 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 tech-

niques 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, Pow-

erDirector beat Premiere Elements, Pinna-

cle 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 soft-

ware to support 64-bit Windows, PowerDi-

rector is taking a lead in the field. In terms

of sheer features, it is second to none, mak-

ing it our consumer-level video editing soft-

ware Editors’ Choice.—Michael Muchmore


CyberLink PowerDirector 9

FIRsT LOOKs sOFTWARE

Breaking New Ground In Video Editing

CyberLink PowerDirector 9$99.95 listl l l l h

PROs Fast startup. Fast interface. Fast render-ing. 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.


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 naviga-

tion and better video quality is more impor-

tant, go with Hulu Plus.—Jeffrey L. Wilson

and Errol Pierre-Louis


Hulu Plus$7.99 per monthL 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.

If you love the free streaming-TV

service Hulu, you’ll love Hulu Plus,

a subscription service that offers a

deeper catalog of shows and com-

patibility 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 favor-

ite 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 stream-

ing option for $8.99, in which you can

watch episodes instantly on your computer,

Hulu Plus

FIRST LOOKS SOFTWARE

More Shows On More Devices


john c. dvorak

26 Pc MaGaZInE dIGITaL EdITIon january 2011

Creeping Ever Closer To Regulating the Net

Given the events of 2010, it looks

like 2011 will be a turning-point

year for the Internet. a universal

conspiracy to throttle the Inter-

net began in earnest in 2010.

Combine the WikiLeaks site with govern-

ment meddling, and misguided hacker retri-

bution 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 reg-

ulating the Internet is evolving more and

more, with better and better arguments

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 communica-

tions, 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 “must-

watch” 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

DvoRak LivE oN ThE WEb John’s Internet TV show airs every Wednesday at 3:30 ET on cranky-Geeks.com. You can download back episodes whenever you like.

january 2011 Pc MaGaZInE dIGITaL EdITIon 27

standing 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 hap-

pen to the Internet would be to let the gov-

ernment 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 licens-

ing, they’d say, OK, let’s license these tubes

and stop all the crazy WikiLeaks and viruses

and denial-of-service attacks, and every-

thing in between.

I can assure you that when the FCC

decides to begin a process of licensing peo-

ple 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.

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 showcas-

ing 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 rea-

son to end the First amendment, which is

embodied in the Internet.

The interesting thing about the Wiki-

Leaks drama for the past few months is that

it showed the true colors of a lot of politi-

cians who apparently have something to

fear. They ranted about how the operation

supports terrorism. By their logic, pretty

much every TV show ever produced sup-

ports terrorism. More than a few grand-

The idea of regulating the internet is evolving,

with better and better arguments against the

free-for-all nature of the Net.



SASCHA SEGAN

Can Dell Sell Cell?

Are 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 crack-

ing the fast-growing mobile market.

under ron Garriques, Dell’s attempts to

build phones were marked by high ambi-

tions and really, really bad execution.

abysmal execution. Truly embarrassing exe-

cution. 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

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 hand-

ing out 25,000 units to its own employees.

But I’m not convinced the Venue Pro actu-

ally 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.


STAY PHONE-SMART Keep up with the latest on smartphones by reading Sascha’s column at go.pcmag.com/segan.

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.

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 mar-

ket 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 mak-

ing mobile phones a poor cousin, a subsid-

iary 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 Motoro-

la’s phone division is for sale.

a big part of the problem is acquiring

competencies. Knowing Wi-Fi PCs doesn’t

translate into knowing cellular rF engi-

neering—see apple’s perpetual struggle

with antenna design. Knowing x86 prod-

uct 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 car-

rier sales model. First the aero tried to ful-

fill carrier demands too slavishly. Then Dell

started distributing Streak review units

before aT&T had fully approved the prod-

uct, 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



LArry sELTZEr

Computer Security: How It Looks for 2011

Looking 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 con-

stant 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 certif-

icates 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 gen-

erated conspicious errors. Stuxnet is not a

trend, it’s sui generis, and such private key

theft is beyond the capabilities of all but a

very small number of malware writers. any

idiot can do the Stuxnet trick and look idi-

otic 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 prev-

alent.” There were takedown attempts

against botnets last year; some were suc-

cessful. 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


Keep up wItH Larry Read his security posts at blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch.

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.

up winning and holding its ground against

other botnets that try to attack it.” It cer-

tainly sounds possible, but I don’t know how

they can predict such a thing.

“Human mules will be replaced by mal-

ware that does the equivalent job of trans-

ferring 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-log-

ging.” 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

“Some security vendors will run into trou-

ble 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.

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 Shorten-

ing 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 Vulnerabili-

ties.” 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, result-

ing in scams and black-market trading of

the currencies.

FrOM FOrTINET

“Increased Global Collaborative Take-

downs.” 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

“A large botnet cyberwar; Zeus will end



Technical Excellence Awards

Throughout the year,

the staff at PCMag.

com tests the new-

est and best tech-

nology in our labs

and then tells you

about all the juicy prod-

uct details in our reviews. But sometimes,

the very coolest technology is behind the

scenes, powering those products. Some-

times 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, soft-

ware, 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 with-

out 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.

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


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 worth-

while platform. It takes every-

thing 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 micro-

processor architecture. Releasing an APU (accel-

erated processing unit) that combines the graph-

ics with the CPU is a natural progression after the

company bought ATI. The first APU for notebooks,

codenamed Llano, was demoed in October.



Wi-Fi Direct

Feel like connecting portable

devices to Wi-Fi is more hassle

than it’s worth? The Wi-Fi Alli-

ance agreed and, on its own, it

created this peer-to-peer wire-

less protocol (in other words,

it didn’t wait for some much-

delayed IEEE spec). Wi-Fi

Direct lets newer devices auto-

matically find and communi-

cate 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 com-

pany 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.



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 desk-

top and laptop versions of Sandy Bridge should be

out early this year.

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 fea-

tured 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 restric-

tion of having third-party

integrated solutions on its plat-

form. It relies on the applica-

tion the laptop is running. If an

Nvidia chipset isn’t in use, the

laptop reverts to the Intel inte-

grated graphics for power sav-

ings. This technology is similar

to Apple’s Automatic Graphics

Switching (AGS) that’s found

in the MacBook Pro.



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 mul-

tiple 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.

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.



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 consum-

ing. The cord glows and pulses

when it’s plugged into your

electronics, pulsing brighter

when more power is con-

sumed. 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 con-

cept.

Sugru

One designer’s quest to have a

material suitable for “hacking”

products that needed a fix or

patch has led to Sugru, a poly-

mer that sticks to almost any-

thing 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 lap-

top or phone—may be as infi-

nite as the imagination it took

to create it.



Sony NEX Cameras

Micro Four Thirds changed

the way we look at digital

cameras by giving us inter-

changeable lenses on small

body cameras. This year, Sony

one-upped that tech with

NEX, which uses a larger APS-

C 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, In-

tel showed WiDi, short for

Wireless Display technology.

While other companies have

done something similar, nota-

bly 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 instant-

ly becomes your super-sized

monitor, sans cables.


Google Wave

Google Wave went public in

May of this year. By August,

Google said it was no lon-

ger going to develop it as a

standalone product. It just

didn’t catch on. But it lives on

as a server-based develop-

ment by Apache Software

Foundation for good reason:

It’s a paradigm of a new com-

munications platform for the

Internet, combining XML doc-

uments with conversations

about and around them.

Apple’s Retina Display

The display experts say that

Apple’s new screen tech (cur-

rently available on the Apple

iPhone 4) may have exagger-

ated specs, but nevertheless,

it’s the best mobile display

currently available, even com-

pared to the amazing Super-

AMOLED screens. Consider-

ing that both are in their first

generations, they're only go-

ing to get more visually daz-

zling on future handsets and

tablets.



Solutions

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,

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 Face-

book 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 Face-

book. This page lets you control who can

Your Facebook Privacy Toolkit By Eric Griffith

Sure, 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 guar-

antee 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.


1) CREATE BLOCK LISTS 3) LIMIT WHO FINDS YOU

4) MAKE YOUR SHARING PRIVATE2) LIMIT APPLICATION DATA USE

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 ask-

ing 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 every-

thing you post. Click the Custom button

under Sharing on Facebook (still on the Pri-

vacy 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



SOLUTIONS SOCIAL NETWORKING

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 Four-

Square). 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 visit-

ing 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 vid-

eos 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 controver-

sies when people found their pictures from

Facebook showing up as part of advertise-

ments 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.

5) DON’T LET THEM SAY WHERE YOU ARE

6) LIMIT YOUR CONTACT INFO

7) PICK VIEWING PERMISSIONS PER POST


8) DON’T ADVERTISE FOR FACEBOOK

9) LOOK FOR TRESPASSERS

10) TEMPORARILY DEACTIVATE

9) Look for Trespassers

Of course you know how to create a strong

password and use one on your Facebook

account. If not, someone might have fig-

ured 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 cre-

dentials. 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 down-

load 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 deac-

tivated, 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 any-

thing. 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. ■



sOLuTIONs NETwOrkING

It 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 usu-

ally hard-wired to a network, such as rout-

ers, switches, servers, and naSes.

Of course, you can purchase longer Eth-

ernet cables from Best Buy and other elec-

tronic/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 sev-

eral networks, as a small-business tech con-

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 exam-

ple, 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.

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

Make Your Own Ethernet Cables

january2011 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 45

sTEP 2: Get the right tools. you will need a

spool of Cat5 (Cat5e is now the standard)

or Cat6 (if your network is Gigabit

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.

sTEP 1: Determine which type of cable

you need. newer networking hardware,

adapters, naSes, switches and routers are

connected with what’s called a straight-

through 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 cross-

over 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.



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 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 cross-

over cable, the wire arrangement is different

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.

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

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.

sOLuTIONs NETwOrkING


Zinio.com/GoWithIt

Zinio’s iPhone App

Have fun reading your favorite magazines (and get access to them on your pc and mac too).

go with it.PC Magazine for iPhone

n

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!



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Dell studio XPs sx8100-2777NBC $1,149.99 list

BuDGET/VALuE

sony VAIO VPC-EB33FM/BJ $629.99 list

ENTry-LEVEL

Asus Essentio CM1630-05 $479.99 list

GAMING/MuLTIMEDIA

Acer Aspire Predator AG7750-u2222 $1999 list

Cyberpower Gamer Dragon $1,099 direct

ALL-IN-ONE

HP Touchsmart 310-1000z$1,159 direct

NEW! HP Omni 100 $559.99 list

BusINEss

Dell Optiplex 780 usFF $1,484 direct

COMPACT DEskTOP

Dell Inspiron Zino HD (Inspiron 410) $849.99 direct

NETTOP

Lenovo IdeaCentre Q150 $399 direct

LAPTOPs & NETBOOks

MAINsTrEAM

Asus u45Jc-A1 $867 street

CONsuMEr uLTrA-LOW VOLTAGE

Toshiba satellite T235-s1350 $630 direct

uLTrAPOrTABLE

Toshiba Portege r705-P35 $899.99 list

GAMING

Toshiba Portege r705-P35 $899.99 list

MuLTIMEDIA

Dell studio 17 (Multitouch) $1,411 direct

DEskTOP rEPLACEMENT

Dell XPs 15 $1,115 direct

NETBOOkNEW samsung NF310-A01

$400 street

BusINEss

Dell Latitude E5510 $884 direct

BuDGET

sony VAIO VPC-EB33FM/BJ $629.99 list

TABLET

Apple iPad (Wi-Fi) 64GB $699 direct

sTOrAGE

POrTABLE

Lenovo ThinkPad usB Portable secure Drive $319 list

DEskTOP

Western Digital MyBook studio Edition II $430 list

NETWOrk-ATTACHED sTOrAGE

Netgear readyNAs ultra 6 6TB, $1,349 street

LCD MONITOrs

Asus VW266H $309 list

HP LP2275w $349 direct

Dell ultrasharp u2711 $1,099 direct

PrINTErs

MONOCHrOME LAsErNEW Brother HL-2240 $120 street

COLOr LAsErNEW Dell 1350cnw Color LED

Printer $299 direct

Xerox Phaser 7500/DN 3,299.99 direct

sTANDArD INkJET NEW Epson stylus NX625 $149

direct

PHOTO PrINTEr

Epson stylus Photo r2880 $799.99 direct

ALL-IN-ONENEW HP Photosmart estation

$399 direct

HP Officejet 6500A Plus e-All-in-One $199 direct

PrOJECTOrs

NEW Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8700 uB $2,199 direct

sCANNErs

NEW 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

PLAsMA

samsung PN58C8000 $2,999.99 list

LCD

sharp Aquos LC-52D85u $2,099.99 direct

sony Bravia kDL-46XBr8 $3,999.99 list

samsung LN52A750 $3,999 list

LEDNEW Mitsubishi unisen LT-55265

$3,199.99 list

BLu-rAy PLAyErs

samsung BD-C6500 $249.99 list

DIGITAL CAMErAs

COMPACT

Panasonic Lumix DMC-Ts2 $399.95 list


Bestkodak Easyshare M580 $199.95 directD-sLr

Nikon D300 $1,800 street

Canon EOs rebel T1i $899.99 list

suPErZOOM

sony Cyber-shot DsC-HX5V $349.99 direct

DIGITAL VIDEO CAMErAs

sony Bloggie Touch 8GB (MHs-Ts20/s) $199.99 direct

sony HDr-sr11 $1,099.99 direct

DIGITAL PHOTO & VIDEO

VIDEO-EDITING sOFTWArE

CyberLink DVD suite 7 ultra $129.95 direct

PHOTO EDITING

Adobe Photoshop Cs5 Extended $699 to $899 list

Aperture 3 $199 direct

DIGITAL PHOTO FrAME

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 iPod nano (5th gen.) 16GB, $179 direct

sPEAkErs/DOCks

Beatbox by Dr. Dre from Mon-ster $449.95 list

Hercules XPs 2.1 Lounge $60 street

MEDIA EXTENDErs

sonos Bundle 150 $999 direct

slingbox PrO-HD $299 list

GAMING CONsOLEs

sony Playstation 3 120GB

(Ps3 slim) $299.99 direct

GPs DEVICEsGarmin nüvi 1390T $269.99 list

E-BOOk rEADErs

Barnes & Noble Nook Color$249 direct

Amazon kindle (3G+WiFi) $189 direct

HEADPHONEsBowers & Wilkins P5 Mobile

Hi-Fi Headphones $299.95 list

BLuETOOTH HEADsETs

Aliph Jawbone Icon $99 list

CELL PHONEsAT&T

samsung rugby II sGH-A847 From $249.99 with contract

samsung Mythic sGH-A897 From $199.99 with contract

Apple iPhone 4 $199 list

sPrINT

samsung Epic 4G $349.99 list

HTC Evo 4G $299.99 list

LG rumor Touch $79.99–$279.99 list

T-MOBILE

T-Mobile G2 $229 list

T-Mobile myTouch 4G $199 list

VErIZON WIrELEss

Casio G’zOne ravine $149 streetNEW Motorola Droid 2 Global

$559.99 list

OFFICE & PrODuCTIVITy

QuickBooks Premier Edition 2011 $399.95 list

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 $119 list

Office 2010 Professional $499 direct

iWork for iPad $9.99 direct

QuickBase $250 direct per month

NEW sliderocket Free

Citrix GoToAssist Express $69 direct per month

IPHONE APPsTomTom 1.3 $69.99 direct

Navigon MobileNavigator 1.4.0 $79.99 direct

Air sharing $6.99 direct

Photogene $2.99 direct

rhapsody 2.0 Free

GAMEsHalo: reach $59.99 list

God of War III $59.99 list

Alan Wake $59.99 list

MuLTIMEDIAAdobe Acrobat X

from $199 list

Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 $99.99 list

NEW CyberLink PowerDirector 9 $99.95 list

rhapsody from $12.99 per month

GIMP 2.6.1 Free

Apple iLife ’09 $79 direct

Apple iTunes 10.1 Free

sECurITy

ANTIVIrusNEW Ad-Aware Free Internet

security 9.0 Free

Webroot AntiVirus with spy sweeper 2011 $39.99 direct

Norton AntiVirus 2011 $39.95 direct

suITE

Norton Internet security 2011 $69.99 yearly

Norton 360 version 3.0 $69.99 yearly


pc magazine (january 2011)

Documents

digital information

digital world

pc security forecast

hardware dell xps

social networking

ethernet cables

government network

diplomatic secrets