PowerBooks opening new chapter for utilities vendors
By Henry Norr
San Mateo, Calif. - Popular as the PowerBooks are, almost every user seems to have a wish list of ways the machines could be made more convenient, customizable and secure, and software developers across the land are racing to meet the demand with new suites of notebook-specific utilities.
First out of the gate, apparently, will be Connectix Corp., which last week said that it will release an aggressively priced package called CPU - Connectix Power Utilities - next month. The product will list at $99, but Connectix said it expects to see a street price of $49.
CPU is a single control panel incorporating an array of customizable settings for power management, security, keyboard control and performance tuning. The program will occupy about 200 Kbytes of disk space, but it will require only about 20 Kbytes of system memory for its core functions; an LCD screen saver and a graphical security feature - using dummy screens to conceal actual work - each require about another 20 Kbytes, according to the company.
Icons in a scrolling window on the left side of the control- panel display represent different categories of settings; selecting one brings up the available controls on the right side. The program can store custom settings for multiple users, and each user in turn can create different configurations for different environments, such as planes, meetings, home or office.
Features include:
>Power management.
Users can create different settings for AC and battery power, and CPU automatically switches to the appropriate settings depending on the current power source. For each power mode, users can set precise intervals of inactivity after which the processor will rest, the drive will spin down, the backlighting will dim and the system will sleep.
>Security.
CPU will offer password protection at start-up and when the system is awakened from sleep. Alternatively, users can select a PICT file, such as a screen dump, to come up instead of the password dialog; gaining access to the machine requires clicking in a user-designated hot region on the image. A special Panic option lets the user bring up a fake screen with a hot key.
>Keyboard control.
A feature called Power Menus lets users make dialog-box selections and choose menu items, including those on hierarchical submenus and System 7's Help and Application menus, entirely with the keyboard, using Windows- style underlined letters. All of CPU's own options can be set from the keyboard. The program also lets users create hot keys for many functions, including using the arrow keys to dim or increase backlighting incrementally.
>Cursor assistance.
CPU lets users install a wider I-beam cursor. Users who have lost the cursor can hit a hot key to highlight the area around the pointer.
>Status indicators.
Menu-bar icons can display the date; time; processor speed; time until spindown or sleep; and several battery parameters, including estimated time remaining.
>Fast Start/Stop.
The program lets users control some PowerBook default behaviors, such as checking AppleTalk when waking up, that can cause annoying delays.
Connectix Corp. is at 2655 Campus Drive, San Mateo, Calif. 94403. Phone (415) 571-5100 or (800) 950-5880; fax (415) 571-5195.
MacWEEK 06.29.92
News Page 1
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Apple-Toshiba alliance to spawn media PDAs
First CD device slated for mid-'93
By Matthew Rothenberg
Los Angeles - Apple and Toshiba Corp. last week announced plans to develop a line of portable multimedia players that will be marketed by both companies.
The first fruit of the deal, which the companies announced at Digital World here, will be a CD-ROM-based Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), which is scheduled to ship by the middle of next year for less than $1,000. Apple and Toshiba, based in Tokyo, said they will work together on development of the device; Toshiba will manufacture versions of the device to be marketed under each company's label.
Developers who have seen prototypes of the device, code- named Sweet Pea, said first-generation models will have only a small black-and-white screen built in. Since the PDA will output NTSC (National Television System Committee) video, how-ever, users will be able to hook it up to standard televisions and video monitors.
The companies will license system software for the device from Kaleida, the multimedia software company formed last October by Apple and IBM Corp.
Apple CEO John Sculley said his company would "jump-start PDAs" by focusing its marketing efforts on Apple's installed base of business users and current markets rather than the general consumer-electronics market. Apple will "build systems and solutions franchises" that include PDAs, such as paperless publishing systems, Sculley said.
According to Toshiba America Inc. Vice President Tetsuo Kadoya, the technology included in Apple's and Toshiba's versions of the PDA will "basically be almost the same." While Toshiba will aim its sales efforts primarily at the consumer market, Apple will focus on professionals familiar with computers, he said.
Although the device is slated to be manufactured in Japan, the companies' first market will be the United States, Kadoya said.
Pieter Hartsook, editor of The Hartsook Letter in Alameda, Calif., said Apple will hold an early lead in marketing the multimedia PDA because "early adopters of the technology will be people who are early adopters of other technology, such as desktop computers.
"For the first year, the majority of sales will be to people who already have Macintoshes," especially in the area of corporate training, Hartsook said. After that, non-computer users will migrate to the new devices, reversing the balance of sales in favor of the general consumer market, he predicted.
Hartsook also said that the success of the new machines would hinge on the availability of third-party software. At Digital World, Warner New Media of Burbank, Calif., and Paramount Communications Inc. of New York both announced plans to develop multimedia products for the new PDAs.
MacWEEK 06.29.92
News Page 1
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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New pared-down PowerBook model will tap PDA tech
By Mitch Ratcliffe
San Francisco - Apple last week showed consumer focus groups here a model of a new, lightweight PowerBook that borrows heavily from the Newton Personal Digital Assistant technology.
Due next summer, the unnamed 68030-based Mac reportedly will weigh in at 2 pounds. Apple plans to forsake internal hard and floppy drives in favor of PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) cards for application memory, storage and communications capabilities, sources said (see MacWEEK, May 11).
The credit card-size devices can pack RAM, modems, packet radio devices and even hard drives into slots on a personal computer.
PCMCIA technology also is a key feature in Newton, Apple's recently announced PDA (see MacWEEK, June 6). It was not clear whether all Newton PCMCIA cards will work in the portable Macintoshes with a similar bus.
Several storage and communications configuration choices were discussed, including:
>Two PCMCIA slots for additional memory or network connections combined with the ability to plug an external 80-Mbyte hard drive into a 40-pin HDI (Hard Drive Interface) port on the back of the portable.
>Three PCMCIA slots, which would let users plug in any combination of network-interface and memory cards.
>An internal 40-Mbyte hard drive and one PCMCIA slot. The hard drive would be installed instead of two additional card slots.
Some focus groups were told that PCMCIA cards will provide the device with communications capabilities, such as a Local- Talk interface, wireless LocalTalk and the ability to receive messages and electronic mail through pager services, sources said. Using cards instead of building in communications capabilities will help Apple hold down the size, weight and cost of the base model, while allowing users to customize their own systems, sources said.
The model shown included a built-in, full-size keyboard and a screen in a case that, if closed, would measure 11 by 8 by 2 inches, sources said. Apple reportedly has settled on a supertwist reflective screen for the device.
Apple apparently plans to tailor the new portable for two markets. A consumer version might ship with a bundled integrated software package for word processing, database and on-line access, while another version would be aimed at the corporate environment, enabling work flow; document authentication; and E-mail, fax and messaging applications - all features of Apple's OCE (Open Collaboration Environment).
Focus-group members were told that the new device will sell for between $700 and $1,700.
News Page 1
MacWEEK 06.29.92
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Multimedia moves a step closer at Digital World
By Carolyn Said and Neil McManus
Beverly Hills, Calif. - The multimedia industry remains a concept poised at the brink of reality.
Nevertheless, Digital World, a Seybold Seminars conference held here last week, showcased some innovative multimedia products and works in progress and brought together a horde of creative and technical talent and even some customers.
Several of the products that generated the most excitement among those in the know were shown only off the floor, in private suites. Adobe Systems Inc. provided sneak previews of Premiere 2.0, its second-generation QuickTime-editing program that will be unveiled at the August Macworld Expo.
The update, sources said, sports a vastly improved interface and a much faster movie compiler. Users now will be able to grab audio and video from within the program. Other improvements include video-switcher emulation using the Alpha channel, blue-screen image compositing and a number of new processing modules.
SuperMac Technology, while showing its Digital Film card on the show floor, privately previewed another card designed specifically to accelerate Adobe Photoshop.
Called ThunderStorm, the NuBus card reportedly was designed in collaboration with Storm Technology Inc. and Adobe. The board, which is due in the third quarter for about $1,000, incorporates a 16-bit AT&T digital signal processor and will ship with a suite of Photoshop plug-ins that use it, sources said.
Users, however, said many of the tools don't seem ready for prime time.
"They're dumping a whole bunch of revolutionary technology on us," said Palmer Van Dyke, a technology specialist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. "The software I've seen here seems too complex, and hardware doesn't seem mature. Business users have jobs to do. They don't have a lot of time to learn complicated software, and they don't have money to spend on hardware that's not quite ready."
An interchange in one session encapsulated the industry's nascent state."I've got a horse and cart and the will to drive it," said actress and producer Shelley Duvall, discussing her energy and enthusiasm for multimedia productions.
"All we need is the road," retorted Denise Caruso, editor of Digital Media: A Seybold Report based in San Francisco.
The conference's liveliest session gathered four artists - Duvall; actress Lily Tomlin; writer and producer Jane Wagner; and song writer, set designer and writer Allee Willis - for a freewheeling discussion of the field's potential.
They agreed that interactive multimedia will succeed only if the content is compelling enough.
"If you don't know how to draw people in, this will remain the kind of technology that just gets discussed at these seminars," Willis said.
But even if many users aren't quite ready to buy into multimedia, the industry is more than ready to sell to them, as some notable figures admitted.
"I think the real reason for this convergence (of consumer electronics, entertainment and computers) is pure greed," said Andrew Grove, president and CEO of Intel Corp. "Is the hunger for thy neighbor's business enough to drive this complex convergence?"
MacWEEK 06.29.92
News Page 1
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Kaleida appoints Goldhaber CEO, turns to business of multimedia
Scripting language, OS in the works
By Daniel Farber
Beverly Hills, Calif. - Kaleida finally got off the ground last week when Nat Goldhaber was officially named CEO of the Apple/IBM Corp. joint venture.
Rolled out in October 1991, Kaleida is developing core software technology for creating, playing and distributing multimedia content across computer and consumer-electronics platforms.
Goldhaber and Kaleida shared the stage here at Digital World with the announcement of an agreement between Apple and Toshiba Corp. to jointly develop a multimedia player. The two companies will be the first Kaleida licensees.
"Kaleida is the nucleus around which things like multimedia, information delivery, interactive communications and retail merchandising can coalesce," Goldhaber said.
Goldhaber's more immediate duties as CEO will be to fine-tune the company's business plan, define the details of licensing arrangements, grow the staff from the current 35 to approximately 75 employees by year-end and lease office space in the San Francisco Bay area.
>Software.
Kaleida's products will include a multimedia operating system, a real-time multitasking kernel designed for device control; Script X, a language for building multimedia authoring tools; and a runtime engine (RTE) for playing content on top of Mac, DOS, OS/2 and Windows, among other operating systems.
Script X will be extensible to many platforms, allowing third parties to add functionality, similar to external commands in HyperCard, according to Peter Miller, engineering manager for the personal interactive-electronics division at Apple.
>Markets.
While the education and consumer markets will be a major beneficiary of Kaleida's work, business users also will benefit.
"Kaleida-based media servers will be a way to provide training in an office," according to Tony Bove, editor of the Bove & Rhodes Inside Report on Multimedia and Publishing Technologies in Gualala, Calif.
>Staff.
Like Taligent Inc., the other Apple-IBM joint venture, Kaleida will operate as an independent entity, with board members from both IBM and Apple.
Named to the board last week were Robert Carberry, assistant general manager, technology, for IBM Personal Systems; Nubuo Mii, IBM vice president and general manager, Entry Systems Technology for IBM Personal Systems; Albert Eisenstadt, secretary and executive vice president at Apple; David Nagel, senior vice president of the advanced technology group; and Goldhaber.
Other key company officers expected to sign on include Apple's Miller; Dan'l Lewin, a consultant working on the Kaleida project; and Eric Neumann, the primary author of Macromedia Inc.'s Director Lingo language who is working on Script X.
>Developer relations.
Goldhaber said the company will begin to work with developers later this year. Macromedia Inc. of San Francisco and Claris Corp. will reportedly be among the first to license Script X.
"We want to make sure there are lots of titles for Sweet Pea," Goldhaber said of the Apple/Toshiba multimedia player.
Not all developers are convinced that the company will be able to set multimedia standards, however.
"It took a year to hire a CEO. That doesn't bode well for their plan to provide technology in a broad way," said Rob Glaser, vice president of multimedia and consumer systems at Microsoft Corp. "And, both Apple and IBM have to worry about protecting their proprietary interests."
Goldhaber stresses that Kaleida will be independent from it parents and neutral toward all potential licensees. "We sincerely hope that Microsoft will be a licensee of the RTE for Windows and DOS," Goldhaber said.
MacWEEK 06.29.92
News Page 1
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Sketcher to draw on Painter interface
Fractal Design app to paint gray scale
By April Streeter
Aptos, Calif. - Fractal Design Corp. is gearing up for an August Macworld Expo introduction of a new gray-scale painting program that blends features from the company's painting and image-retouching programs.
Called Sketcher, the $149 program will support 256 shades of gray and include an interface similar to Painter, the company's $349 full-color program. Sketcher also will include nearly all the image-retouching tools from the company's ImageStudio software. Fractal said it will support but no longer sell ImageStudio.
Fractal hopes Sketcher will fill a niche for desktop publishers and graphic artists who still rely on gray-scale laser printers to output much of their work.
Sketcher's features will include:
>Natural media.
Like Painter, Sketcher is designed to approximate an artist's toolbox. A variety of preset brush widths and brush strokes, from smooth to grainy, will simu- late pencils, chalks and charcoals. Like Painter, Sketcher will support pressure-sensitive drawing tablets from Wacom Inc., CalComp Inc. and Kurta Corp.
Sketcher also will have a collection of modifiable gray-scale gradient fills and a Frisket tool derived from Painter that masks off and protects an area when applying effects around it.
>Backdrops.
The program will offer a variety of backgrounds that simulate different paper grains as well as other artists' media, such as canvas.
>Retouching.
Sketcher will import TIFF and PICT images. Like ImageStudio, the program will tilt and stretch images to distort their perspective. Sketcher also will posterize and resize imported images. It will export TIFF, PICT, Encapsulated PostScript and RIFF files.
Contrast and brightness of images will be modified with slider controls; an Equalize feature will even out a graphic's brightness.
Fractal plans an upgrade path for ImageStudio users, although pricing has not yet been announced.
Fractal Design Corp. is at 335 Spreckels Drive, Suite F, Aptos, Calif. 95003. Phone (408) 688-8800; fax (408) 688-8836.
MacWEEK 06.29.92
GA Page 18
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Accounting programs add up: Figuring which is best for you
The important decision of which accounting package to buy can be made easier by looking first at category, not features.
By Gardner Terrell
Over the past few years, while Mac accounting software at all levels has increased in power and sophistication, it also has become easier to use and cheaper to buy.
These trends bode well for users but don't necessarily make it easier for managers deciding which accounting software is right for their business.
>Eeny meeney miney mo.
To help in this decision making, it is helpful to separate accounting software into high-end, midrange, and low-end or personal-finance categories. The border between classifications is by no means clear, and some products, such as Accountant, Inc. from Softsync Inc., have improved enough to move from one category to another.
But in general, you'll need more-sophisticated software, the larger and more complex your business is.
"A manager who wants to pick the best product must be willing to invest many hours of his accountant's time studying the literature and attending demonstrations of the products that would meet his needs," said Harold Baldus, CEO of Phil's Photo Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based font company and user of Insight Expert from Peachtree Software Inc. "You are going to have to live with it for a long time, so you better be sure it is right. Narrow the choices to two or three products and study them in depth," Baldus said.
According to Sheldon Needle, a Rockville, Md., consultant who specializes in selecting accounting software, the first step is to make a list of the essential features the accounting software must have, including whether it must be multi-user today or in the near future.
>High end.
In general, high-end programs are those that offer the flexibility and power to perform any accounting function that can be done on a computer. They also provide strong support - a cadre of well-trained experts who sell the software, install it if necessary and are available to solve problems on-site.
All these programs offer at least general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable, order entry, job cost, inventory, sales analysis and payroll.
Provisions for the strong audit trails and internal controls required by CPAs and government agencies also are included. Flexware Network Accounting from Microfinancial Corp. and Great Plains Accounting from Great Plains Software are the two best-known examples of high-end programs.
High-end packages usually are offered in modules, so users pay for only the parts of the program they use. Others are offered as a unit that includes most or all functions.
Purchased as a unit, the software is usually less expensive than when purchased by the module. All the software, whether purchased as modules or not, is integrated with the general ledger and other parts of the system. All high-end packages offer multi-user functionality, as do some midrange accounting programs.
>Midrange products.
Midrange products offer some of the same features as high-end packages but with less-flexible data- entry and reporting facilities. If you have a small business or department that needs to account for inventory, job cost, accounts receivable or accounts payable, but you do not need a high level of internal control, there are a variety of midrange programs available.
Products in this category include Components from Satori Software; MacMoney from Survivor Software Ltd.; Simply Accounting from Computer Associates International Inc.; Peachtree Accounting for the Macintosh from Peachtree Software; and MYOB from Teleware Inc.
MYOB enjoys a high profile. Joan Whitney, a San Diego-based management-information consultant, ran a 25-person accounting office with an IBM mainframe. She had never seen a Macintosh before she was asked to install and operate MYOB at SupraPorte Inc., an equipment importer in Carlsbad, Calif.
"It was a dream come true," she said. "It leads you one step at a time, and without realizing it, you have created the chart of accounts. It's simple, but it has depth - 86 different kinds of reports, for example."
MacMoney is an inexpensive product that, although it has full general-ledger capabilities, lies in the gray area between accounting and personal finance.
"I have recorded every transaction over the past 10 years on one system or another," said John Samuels, president of Golin/Harris Communications Inc., a Chicago public-relations company. "I am talking about everything, right down to newspaper and snack purchases. MacMoney is the best system I've used for this kind of detail. But it also keeps track of my investments and net-worth statement."
>Multi-user.
If you expect your accounting department to grow, then it is important to select an accounting system with multi-user capability.
At least seven Mac accounting systems offer multi-user programs: A4 from Softek Design Inc.; Accountant, Inc.; Flexware; Great Plains; MultiLedger from CheckMark Software Inc.; Multi-User Desktop Accounting from Logisoft Inc.; and SBT Database Accounting Library from SBT Corp. Some sell less expensive, single-user versions that can be upgraded to a multi-user version.
>Payroll.
Generally, salaries paid through the payroll part of a program are integrated directly into the general ledger. Managers of systems with job-cost requirements should make sure the payroll module is sufficiently integrated so salaries are posted directly to individual jobs.
"We simply enter each employee's hours, and CheckMark's payroll program calculates all of the withholding, net pay and posts to the other parts of the program," said Ron McPherson, a Canadian chartered accountant, the Canadian equivalent of the CPA in the United States. "In our case, CheckMark customized the program to accommodate the two levels of tax that we have to contend with here in Canada."
Once the payroll calculations are made, it's necessary to file a payroll tax return. Taxview from ChipSoft Inc. offers a package that greatly simplifies the filing of quarterly payroll tax returns by presenting a graphic image of the quarterly tax form, which is completed on screen.
>Personality.
Each of these products has its own character, which can be judged only by using it. Teleware and Microfinancial each touts its product's ability to post immediately and give access to real-time account balances. Great Plains, on the other hand, supports batch processing, arguing that this results in fewer errors.
"We switched from Great Plains to Flexware," said Michelle Crane, assistant controller for Covey Leadership, a Provo, Utah, publisher with six accounting workstations. "We ran Great Plains for a year but found that we just couldn't get the kind of information that we needed; it was too slow," Crane said.
"We had to stop everything for two days while it posted. [Great Plains'] support was unsatisfactory and expensive," she said.
Since last year, Crane has been on a maintenance contract with Flexware, which she said is quick and to the point.
But Mike Beck, senior property accountant in charge of central accounting at Lodging Unlimited Inc., a West Chester, Pa., property-management company, said that his company switched its six-station network from Flexware to Great Plains for similar reasons with similar results.
"We found that Flexware was too slow for us," Beck said. "To change the financial statements in Flexware, we had to go through Excel, and it was tedious. Since we switched over last February, we can do the financial statements in one-third of the time."
>Bottom line.
Managers who must decide between accounting programs are not in for an easy time.
"Be prepared for a long, careful look at several packages, and be systematic," Baldus said. "There is no substitute for a hands-on trial. If it doesn't feel right in the beginning, there is a good chance that it won't feel right in the long run."
ProductWatch Page 41
MacWEEK 06.29.92
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Color comes cheap with Cachet hand
Impressive color-correction tool helps even novices improve the worst images.
By Steve Hannaford and Tom Bromley
As the desktop-based color publishing market has mushroomed in the past few years, thousands of designers, page-layout artists and even editors have found themselves taking on jobs formerly left to journeyman scanner operators and retouchers. While the traditionalists might groan, hundreds of thousands of so-so color photos are being scanned, corrected and placed in color publications by relative novices.
Ironically, although they are working with worse images and have fewer skills, these amateurs have had tools that are inferior to their expert counterparts in color trade shops. Few desktop scanners offer full prescan tools to improve the quality of scans, although the number is growing. A large majority of users ends up making drastic color corrections in Adobe Photoshop, which is not an easy task. While it is possible to make very good color corrections using that excellent program, its correction tools are far from intuitive, and the process can be very slow.
Electronics for Imaging Inc.'s long-awaited Cachet 1.0 is intended to fit that role exactly. Cachet, which is priced at $395 until Oct. 31 and $595 thereafter, is a program that allows even novice users to make intelligent decisions about color correction. Based on visual feedback from the monitor and the comparison between several images with specific color moves applied to them, Cachet allows users to make adjustments to color cast, midtones, exposure, highlights and shadows, and get immediate visual feedback.
>What's behind it?
Almost every scanned photograph needs some correction. From slight problems in the shot (such as lighting, exposure and film type) to the limitations of most desktop scanners (color casts and color range), almost every photographic image needs some work before it goes to print. When the photograph is an amateur shot, and the scanner is less than the best, the need for corrections is even more critical.
Determining necessary corrections is not trivial, however. Does the image look too greenish because it needs less cyan or more magenta? Maybe the colors are too saturated or it's a combination of saturation and lopsided color balance. How do you figure these matters out, especially if you don't think in CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) percentages?
>The program.
Cachet makes available most of the tools of the color professional and indicates a logical sequence for using them. The most notable feature of the program is called MultiChoice, where you can see versions of the current image displayed side by side with progressive adjustments (in both directions) to exposure, midtones, saturation or any other variable you choose. By visual comparison, you can estimate which of the results is closest to the desired image.
The whole program is progressive in a way that makes it easy to move methodically through the correction process. You start with getting the tonal balance right and correcting the exposure. Then you set the overall color cast, saturation and lightness of the entire image. Finally, you can make selective color corrections by lassoing areas and colorizing them.
The program is impressively speedy. You get almost immediate feedback on any changes you make (and we were working on a stock IIci with 8 Mbytes of RAM and a 24-bit card). You can generally undo changes or revert back to the original with ease. You also can take "snapshots" along the way and return to them when you want. All of this is in real time, although saving the file and permanently applying all the changes you have made does make you wait.
The finished file can be saved as RGB (red, green, blue) or as CMYK. The RGB files can be saved in TIFF, Photoshop, PICT or raw format. If you separate the scan into CMYK, you can save it in Desktop Color Separation, CMYK TIFF or raw format. You save separations to the characteristics of a printer type. Cachet currently supports nine printer types, and EFI claims that number will be expanded. You can set halftone angles and dot shapes and determine GCR (gray component replacement) settings.
You can export the files to Photoshop or Fractal Design Corp.'s ColorStudio (formerly from Letraset) and do the cleanup and final separations in that program. Alternately, you can print directly from Cachet to a device, or you can separate and place the output in another file, such as a page-layout application.
>Neat pluses.
The program has a lot of very nice supporting features. You can open a reference image to provide a baseline example of what a well-tuned similar image might look like. EFI supplies a good range of reference images, or you can create your own. You can pick colors from the reference image for selective matching or choose Pantone colors as a starting point (the Pantone colors will be translated into CMYK equivalents).
The program will show you whether your target printer will print all the colors you have specified. Color areas outside the gamut of that printer are highlighted on the screen. This helps users avoid large ranges of unprintable colors on their images.
You can create scripts of your color-correction moves to apply the same adjustments to a series of similar scans, automating a tedious task.
>Criticisms.
We had a few missteps with the program, although these are fairly minor complaints. It took some time for us to figure out how to decompress some reference images from JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format - the manual index was no help, and the information was not in the main manual but in the reference card.
We got pixelated results after resizing an image and sending it to the Eastman Kodak Co. XL7700 color printer. It seemed like a driver problem, but also might be a problem with resizing.
We wish we could have kept the original image on screen for comparison purposes, even as we kept changing the current version - we didn't manage to figure out an easy way of doing this and wish it were automatic.
The manual is lucid, well-organized and very helpful, but it brings us only halfway up the mountain. We'd like a follow-up manual for advanced (or advancing) users - something that explains in depth what you are doing. The visual feedback and hands-on approach is great, but after a while you want to have a clear idea of what you are affecting and why. Cachet, if nothing else, is potentially a great educational tool.
>Conclusions.
We worked with Cachet in a service-bureau environment on a number of photos ranging from dull to almost hopeless. We had little problem converting the worst of them - impossibly bluish in cast and dreadfully dull and washed out - into a passable image. We also were able to make some minor improvements to a more professional shot. It took us very little time to get the feel of the program, and the few difficulties we ran into were minor.
We'll need more feedback to be convinced that Cachet will cause any professional color separators to lose their jobs, but for the rest of us, who occasionally or regularly have to improve on a mediocre scan from a low-to-midrange scanner, Cachet is definitely worthwhile. You can make noticeable improvements to even awful scanned images right from the start with Cachet. More color knowledge and experience with the program undoubtedly would make it even more useful. In every other way, this is a model software package: delightful to use, powerful, easy to get started with, and beautifully packaged and documented.
Electronics for Imaging Inc. is at 950 Elm St., Suite 300, San Bruno, Calif. 94066. Phone (415) 742-3400; fax (415) 742- 0251.
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On Balance
Cachet 1.0
Electronics for Imaging Inc. Cachet manages to accomplish what it sets out to: It gives users with decent color vision the ability to make corrections to scanned images. It works very quickly, even on routine equipment, and it allows you to use the Mac screen as a fairly reliable color reference - both big pluses. The first release is polished and capable, and the manual is lucid and helpful. All in all, this is a breakthrough application in the color publishing field.
--------------------
System 7 compatibility
Cachet 1.0
Balloon help No
TrueType n/a
Publish and subscribe No
Apple events No
32-bit addressing* Yes
*According to vendor.
MacWEEK 06.29.92
Reviews Page 33
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Aldus warns of Q2 earnings shortfall
Wall Street responds by battering stock
By Carolyn Said
Seattle - Aldus Corp. took a tumble on Wall Street last week after the company warned that it expects sharply lower second-quarter earnings.
In heavy trading, investors last Tuesday hammered Aldus' stock down from $17.63 to $13. Almost 1.3 million shares traded that day in response to the company's announcement that it expects to break even or incur a slight loss on revenues of $38 million to $42 million for the quarter ending June 30. Analysts had expected earnings of 37 to 39 cents per share on sales of $46.5 million to $48 million.
In last year's second quarter, Aldus had earnings of $7.6 million, or 49 cents per share, on sales of $44.3 million.
Final results for this year's second quarter won't be available until mid-July.
Aldus, which is based here, attributed the lower earnings to "a significant revenue shortfall and higher expenses" in its German subsidiary. Lower-than-expected sales of its Windows products, both domestically and abroad, were another contributing factor, the company said.
"We are trying to be very pro-active in terms of sales and marketing," said William McAleer, Aldus chief financial officer. "Our goal for the second and third quarter is to get sales and marketing programs in place to take advantage of our product line." McAleer said the company will continue a freeze on hiring, except for R&D positions.
Analysts said they expected Aldus' results will improve next quarter. "I'm optimistic; I think this was their darkest hour," said Scott McAdams, senior vice president of Ragen MacKenzie Inc., a Seattle investment company. "Some of their problems are clearly related to the economy [in Germany]; some are marketing weaknesses that the company began to address in January with management changes."
McAdams noted, however, that the company that established desktop publishing no longer can rest on its laurels. "The competition in both the Windows and Mac markets, not just on PageMaker but on all their products, will continue to be fierce across the board. They will face ruthless competition."
Last week's announcement marks Aldus' second disappointing quarter in a row. For the first quarter, Aldus earnings were $4.7 million, down from $6.3 million for the first quarter of 1991.
BusinessWatch Page 24
MacWEEK 06.29.92
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
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Mac the Knife
Platforms totally crossed out
No one was the least bit surprised when all this activity on the cross-platform development front caused a flurry at the vice president's office. And you have to admit that traditionally developers generally chose a single platform for which to develop and stuck with it. After all, we're supposed to uphold traditional values, and valuing tradition is a value, too, isn't it? Fortunately, Marilyn was able to calm her excitable husband when she explained that cross-platform development will help to keep the software sector of the economy trucking along in high gear.
The Knife reports that there is some skepticism in the development community about Apple's plans to take MacApp cross-platform as announced last week. The scheme to create a framework based on Symantec Bedrock with a healthy dose of MacApp technology shows a lot of promise, but it has been pointed out to the Knife that Apple earlier had revealed cross- platform ambitions for MacApp 3.0, and we all know how closely those goals were met.
The Bedrock project should not be confused with the Bedford group, which is responsible for Symantec THINK C and Pascal.
>Missing platform.
As expected, Aldus last week announced IntelliDraw, its new 24-bit drawing program that is to be delivered to this world next month in both Mac and Windows versions. Given the prevailing interest in such matters, you would be right in expecting a lot of foot traffic at the company's booth at PC Expo last week in New York. Surprisingly, the booth was notable by the complete absence of Macs. So if you wanted a demonstration of the program's famed ability to directly access files created by the other platform version, you were out of luck. Perhaps someone in the newly named Aldus Consumer Division made the same mistake as our vice president.
>Links for the people.
Apple's ongoing program to broaden the AppleLink mission has some interesting implications. The days when you practically had to take an oath of fealty to Apple to get an account are long gone. The future could hold a host of uses for AppleLink, ranging from an on-line help system for the Mac itself to a clearinghouse for commercial third-party Newton applications. The expected availability of Newton applications seems plausible considering their relatively small size. Mac applications, on the other hand, are much too large for this sort of distribution. Wouldn't it be interesting, though, if Apple broadened the AppleLink mission to let you order Mac applications on-line for later delivery?
>Mo' readers write mo'.
It's been a long time since one of the Knife's throwaway items evolved into a serial, but this Nabisco business, with its third successive appearance, has earned that distinction. A trip to the local reference source corroborated several readers' claim that Newton, Mass., was founded in 1630 as New Town and later changed to Newton. Further, Sir Isaac was born in 1642, so it's highly unlikely that the Newton founders were prescient to that degree. One reader does claim, however, that the late Isaac Asimov lived in Newton for a while until the early 1970s, when he moved to New York.
One thoughtful reader referred the Knife to a book by Lee Iacocca, of all people, where the Knife was to learn that the Apple logo is not designed to represent a piece of fruit (probably forbidden) with a bite already taken out of it. Instead, the logo is actually a dented apple. Presumably the dent was the result of the famous collision with Sir Isaac's noggin. The colors, according to this reader, are to commemorate Sir Isaac's work with prisms and light spectra.
No one could detail how all of this related to the development of the Newton PDA, the price of Camel Wides and the worth of a cookie trademark, but when readers express this much enthusiasm for setting the record straight, the Knife figures it's a good idea to let them air their thoughts in public. n
Whatever the MacWEEK mug may or may not be, it has yet to be submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court for judgment, so its status as a symbol of free speech is not yet in question. If you have something to say that the Knife needs to hear, tell him at (415) 243-3500, fax (415) 243-3650, MCI (MactheKnife), AppleLink (MacWEEK) and CompuServe/ZiffNet/Mac.
MacWEEK 06.29.92
Mac the Knife Page 98
(c) Copyright 1992 Coastal Associates, L.P. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
