Gadget-hungry
Mac fanatics
have some cool choices
Apple's small but loyal customer base can pick up a
virtual reality-type
controller glove
first published in Business
in Vancouver,
Issue #618, August 28, 2001 CurrentZ section: GearGuide column
by ALAN ZISMAN
Macintosh owners have tended to buy more gadgets, on
average, than PC
owners. Perhaps that?s why lots of cool gadgets come out for the Mac
first,
or sometimes only for the Mac.
July?s MacWorld show, in New York City, featured some
400 vendors, showing
off their Mac-ware to the over 60,000 attendees. Some favourites:
Better drawing
Essential
Reality?s
P5 Glove took us back to heady days of the early ?90s, when virtual
reality
was promised for any day now. The P5 Glove fits over your hand, and
lets
finger movements control a wide range of computer controls manipulating
images and motion. It should be a winner as a game controller, but also
has promise for graphics designers looking for more natural, artistic
control
over their digital art. Oh yeah, as a USB gadget, expect to find PC
versions
as well. (www.essentialreality.com,
$200)
Many Macs are used for creating digital art. And while
you can draw
with your mouse, most of us do better with something more like pen and
paper. Vancouver (Washington) Wacom
Technologies
(www.wacom.com) has long been a
leader
in digital tablets and pressure sensitive pens. Their new Intuos line
of
tablets ranges in size from a handy 4x5? ($275) to a hefty 12x18?
($1000).
Along with pens and mice, there?s a new digital airbrush ($150). All
include
Painter Classic software, and a pen-friendly Photoshop plug-in. If you
don?t need any more wires on your desk, their Graphire units offer a
pressure-sensitive
4x5? tablet, complete with mouse, pen, and software bundle for either
Mac
or PC in a choice of six Mac-matching colours for a budget friendly
$150.
Apple is including recordable DVD drives in its
high-end systems, but
the rest of us can also make our own DVD disks. Swiss-company Vivastar,
for example, offers an internal RS-111 model for $1200 and an external
RS-121 for $1350. Or check out Pioneer?s DVR-103 drive, which can write
both 4.7 GB DVD disks or the more common 700 MB CD-R/RW disks (about
$1000).
No wires
Similarly, an option popular with many owners of
current Macs is Apple?s
Airport wireless networking. Older Powerbook owners need not feel left
out, however. They (along with PC notebook owners) can connect to
Airport
or other 802.11b wireless networks with the $270 Skyline 11 wireless PC
Card from Farallon (www.farallon.com).
Like Apple?s original unit, it promises about 150? of wireless
connectivity.
The company is a leader in Mac-friendly networking products, and also
offers
home phone line networking, allowing both Macs and PCs to connect and
share
Internet connections anywhere there?s a phone jack.
Similarly, Xsense
(www.xsense.com)
offers Mac and PC-compatible wireless networking, with their XRouter
Aero
($450) wirelessly sharing an Internet connection with up to 253 Macs
and
PCs. Unlike Apple?s similarly-priced Airport Base Station, the Aero
includes
a 4-port Ethernet switch, for connection to conventional
wired-networks.
The company also offers AeroCard PC Card and the USB AeroPad to add
wireless
connectivity to Mac and PC notebooks and desktops.
For iMacs, big and small
Many Mac owners have been able to stretch their
computers? useful life
with processor upgrades. While the original iMacs were best-sellers a
few
years ago, their 233 to 300 MHz G3 processors are starting to feel
slow. Sonnet Technologies?
HARMONi
G3 ($450) will boost these models to 500 MHz, and add FireWire for
ultra-fast
connectivity, just like the new iMacs. Check www.sonnettech.com
for their complete line-up of Mac processor upgrade kits.
An iMac for $23? Well, not really. But the Applelinks
iClock,
which stands about 8 cm tall, looks just like the original, Bondi Blue
iMac. Don?t expect Apple to take the company to court, as they did with
several iMac-cloners; this one is a clock. Well, what did you expect
for
the price? A computer?