IDG's Macworld Announces Best of Show Awards.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

Macworld New York 2002

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 18, 2002

IDG's Macworld, the premier Macintosh magazine and Web sites, today announced the winners of the "Macworld Best of Show Awards," representing the most exciting hardware and software products announced at Macworld Conference & Expo in New York. The awards were presented by Jim Dalrymple, News Director of MacCentral.com, Macworld's headline news site.

"We were really impressed with the way some developers are taking advantage of the technologies available in Mac OS X," stated Dalrymple. "It's also wonderful to see a number of innovative products maturing under this operating system."

"The winners of this year's Best of Show awards exemplify the diversity in the current Macintosh market," said Macworld Editor Jason Snell. "From big to small, professional to consumer, these products represent some of the most creative work being done in the realm of technology."

To be eligible for Best of Show consideration, products were either making their public debut at Macworld Expo or were recently introduced and likely to generate excitement on the show floor. In addition, the editors had to see the products in action, although some evaluations were based on beta versions or prototypes.

"Macworld Best of Show Awards" represent a highly-coveted honor within the Macintosh industry and are presented exclusively at tradeshows that feature Mac products.

The Best of Show winners for Macworld Conference & Expo New York 2002 are:

@Last Software SketchUp (www.sketchup.com)

@Last Software has helped ease the difficulty of using CAD programs by creating a sketch-based 3D design application with multimedia tutorials and TourGuide Technology for quickly creating animated 3D slideshows or fly-throughs. SketchUp is available now for $475 (electronic) and $495 (CD). (Booth 1731)

21st Century Media cast:stream version 1.5 (www.21stcenturymedia.com)

cast:stream is an impressive way to deliver presentations -- from sales slides to distance-learning tools -- across the internet. Whether you're using PowerPoint, Flash, or QuickTime, you can synchronize multimedia content and add interactive features to express yourself over long distances. (Booth 1837)

Blizzard Entertainment WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos (www.blizzard.com)

Blizzard has reinvented its legendary game series with a new installment that features role playing elements mixed with a strong dose of strategy. Multiplayer gaming is tougher than before, and an OS X-compatible map editor can let you create amazingly detailed add-ons limited largely only by your imagination. List price for this game is $59.95. (Macintosh Gaming Area)

Detto Move2Mac (www.detto.com)

Detto's Move2Mac is right in line with Apple's campaign to make Windows users into Mac lovers. The USB cable and OS X-only software combination promises to make it easy to move preferences and other information from a Windows machine to a Mac. Move2Mac will be available for less than $100 in September through Apple's site. (Booth 138)

Discreet Cleaner 6 (www.discreet.com)

This update to Discreet's popular audio and video compression application has incorporated many of the features of the $499 MPEG Charger add-on, including two-pass VBR encoding and faster MPEG compression. Also new are are watch folders and an A/B preview mode. Cleaner 6 will be available this fall for $599. (Booth 1737)

El Gato eyeTV (www.elgato.com)

EyeTV is El Gato Software's answer to the TiVo, a USB TV-tuner that records programs to your hard drive in MPEG-1 format for later viewing with the help of an online program guide. But just like other Digital Video Recorders, you can pause live TV and skip commercials at the touch of a button. EyeTV is available now for $199 (or $179 at Macworld Expo this week). (Booth 1651)

Epson Stylus Color 960 (www.epson.com)

Epson's latest six-color photo printer, the Stylus Photo 960, features print speeds twice that of it's predecessor, the Stylus Photo 890, and resolutions of up to 2880 x 1440. It's Epson's first dye-based printer to feature separate ink cartridges. Will ship in September with an estimated street price of $349. (Booth 131)

GameRanger 3.0 (www.gameranger.com)

As important as it is to have great games on the Mac, you also need to have a reliable way of finding other gamers to play with. GameRanger 3.0 does exactly that. Since its last major incarnation GameRanger has been updated to support Mac OS X, and features a significantly modified interface. This product is a free download. (Macintosh Gaming Area)

GeeThree Slick Vol. 3 & 4 (www.geethree.com)

GeeThree's Slick Vol. 3 & 4 are $49 plug-in packages that dramatically improve the features of Apple's iMovie, adding impressive titling, image, and transitional effects, as well as remarkable compositing and pan-and-scan features that make iMovie a remarkably professional tool. (Booth 1625)

mAudio Sonica (www.midiman.com)

The Sonica is a tiny USB device that allows you to connect your Mac to your Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital 5.1, or DTS stereo receiver for full 24-bit/96kHz digital surround sound-perfect for watching DVDs on your Mac. Or you can plug in your computer speakers and get simulated surround sound with their TruSurround XT technology. The Sonica is available now for $89.95. (Booth 674)

NEC MultiSync FP2141SB and Mitsubishi Diamond Pro DP2070SB (www.necmitsubishi.com)

NEC and Mitsubishi adds to their lines of professional CRT displays with these products based on their new SuperBright Diamondtron displays. Sporting new sleek black cabinet designs and 0.24 mm flat aperture grille technology, both monitors will ship later this month with estimated street prices of $829 for the NEC and $849 for the Mitsubishi model. (NEC/Mitsubishi Booth 454)

Sonnet Crescendo/WS G4 500 and Encore/ST G4/800 and G4/1GHz (www.sonnettech.com)

Powered by speedy G4 processors, these upgrade products from Sonnet Technologies can dramatically extend the usable life of older Macs. The $400 Crescendo/WS G4 500 adds a 500MHz G4 processor to the "Wall Street" series of PowerBook G3s. The Encore/ST products add 800MHz and 1GHz G4 processors to the Power Mac G4 series, including the Power Mac G4 Cube, for $500 and $700, respectively. (Booth 641)

About Mac Publishing LLC 

Mac Publishing, LLC publishes the world's leading independent Macintosh publication and Web sites. Every month the award-winning Macworld magazine reaches over 2 million influencers of computer purchases(1), while the Mac Publishing Web presence garners an average of 2 million unique visitors. Mac Publishing sites include: Macworld.com and MacCentral.com. Headquartered in San Francisco, Mac Publishing is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research and event company. IDG publishes more than 300 magazines and newspapers and offers online users the largest network of technology-specific sites around the world through IDG.net (www.idg.net), which comprises more than 330 targeted Web sites in 80 countries. IDG is also a leading producer of 168 computer-related events worldwide, and IDG's research company, IDC, provides global market intelligence and advice through 51 offices in 43 countries worldwide. Company information is available at www.idg.com.

(1) SOURCE: Intelliquest CIMS v 8.0