Digital photography promises to revolutionize the way we
capture and store images. The cumbersome and expensive pro-
cess of installing and replacing film, taking it for development
and getting back less than perfect shots will soon be replaced by
the environmentally friendly digital camera. Images are stored in
RAM, and then downloaded into a computer. The camera can be
used repeatedly at no cost to the user.
Apple’s QuickTake 100 is loaded with features you’d expect
to find in a good-quality camera: automatic exposure, built-in flash
and a picture timer. Apple’s QuickTake, however, takes 24-bit color pictures digitally, storing up to 32 images in its memory before you must download into a Macintosh or Windows machine.
A small LCD panel and accompanying buttons on the back of the camera provides simple access to the machines’ controls: the flash can be set to automatic, always on and always off; you can empty the ‘trash’–throw away all pictures in the camera; set the automatic timer, and change the picture resolution. One impressive feature of the QuickTake is the ability to take pictures in two resolutions, either eight pictures at 640x480 or thirty-two at 320x240. You can mix and match sizes, and the LCD will tell you how many pictures at each resolution you have left to take.
The QuickTake Macintosh software supports high-speed serial transfer rates on machines that have GeoPort serial ports. The software ships with a simple control panel which allows you to mount the QuickTake on your desktop (like a hard drive) and double-click on it to see thumbnail icons of its contents. You can obtain them simply by dragging them to your hard drive. The actual QuickTake program also allows transfer of pictures, and gives you bigger previews of the pictures and at what resolution they were taken at. In addition, the software allows some basic image editing, such as rotation, image size and cropping. It must be noted, however, that the QuickTake 100 software is not currently compatible with the Power Macintosh architecture. Apple has informed dealers that the QuickTake 100 will be shipping with Power Macintosh software by mid-May.
With all these wonderful features, you may conclude that the QuickTake 100 is an excellent choice for you and can replace your conventional camera or Fotoman (a gray-scale digital camera by Logitech). That would be a grave mistake. To use a metaphor, the QuickTake 100 is not unlike a shiny new, feature-packed Porsche 911 Turbo with the engine of a Hyundai Pony. The quality of the QuickTake 100’s pictures is very poor. As evidenced by the comparison graphic here, the QuickTake photos have virtually no fine detail and there is much color bleeding (especially when taking pictures containing bright-white). The original Logitech Fotoman picture demonstrates a superior quality photo using older technology. While some may suggest this is because the QuickTake is color, I do not believe that is the case. If you compare both cameras, you will find that they have 1 MB of Flash RAM in them. For 32 images, the Fotoman compresses a possible 3328k (104k for each gray scale image at 376x282) into that 1024k. The QuickTake, on the other hand, must compress a total of 7,200k (300k for each 24-bit color image at 320x240) into that 1MB of RAM. You must therefore have 86% compression of those color images, and the result is a blotchy hyper-compacted picture whose fine detail has been compressed into oblivion. The only good thing about the quality of the QuickTake pictures is that the colors are bright and true to life.
 
The digital photography revolution thus continues to elude us. Despite its wealth of features, I cannot recommend the QuickTake 100 with its $1100 Canadian price tag ($749 U.S.). The general poor image quality must be improved significantly before this camera will find a place in graphic design. For just a few dollars more, Apple’s Color OneScanner produces impressive high-resolution color scans; for significantly less, Logitech’s Fotoman Plus sports detailed grey scale images.  
  
Announced February 15th, Apple’s Color StyleWriter
Pro ($875 Canadian, $649 U.S.) replaces the much
maligned Apple Color Printer and offers substantive
competition for HewlettPackard’s new DeskWriter
560c.
While the DeskWriter 560c offers a monochrome
printing resolution of 300x600 dots per inch (dpi), it only produces color output at 300x300 dpi. The Color StyleWriter Pro, printing at 360x360, offers 40% better color resolution and produces noticably crisper images.
The DeskWriter 560c uses Hewlett Packard’s aging inkjet engine, including both a black and multi-color cartridge. In contrast, the Color StyleWriter Pro utilizes Canon’s new BJ-600 engine, with four seperate color cartridges (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). When you run out of yellow in the Color StyleWriter Pro, you need only replace that particular cartridge. With the 560c, running out of yellow would require you to completly replace the multi-color cartridge, despite the fact that you may still have plenty of cyan or magenta ink. Cartridges for the Color StyleWriter Pro are about $12 each, while you will pay $35 for Hewlett Packard’s high-capacity black cartridge and $38 for the multi-color cartridge.
The Color StyleWriter Pro driver includes support for Apple’s ColorSync color-matching technology and allows you to choose photographic, spot or business color output. You can also alternate between pattern and scatter dither for better quality printing. We obtained best results by utilizing ColorSync with scatter dither, emphasize black and photographic quality settings. Color output was almost identical to onscreen colors, and even 72 dpi screen images printed at full size looked smooth and lifelike. Spot color and business color options are best when working with simple multi-colored charts and other subtle color usage.
As with all inket printers, speed of output is a concern. At best the Color StyleWriter Pro can output 2 - 3 pages of monochrome text per minute. Color images, of course, involve much more processing and thus take quite a bit longer. On average, a full-color 640x480 dpi picture took six minutes to print. This is comparable to the DeskWriter 560c and is approximatley a 1500% improvement over the Apple Color Printer.
One welcomed change with the Color StyleWriter Pro is the adoption of a less smearing ink. Multiple attempts revealed that it took quite a bit of moisture to even slightly smudge an image. In addition, Canon’s BJ 600 engine seems much more effecient at mangaing the amount of ink fired onto the page, minimizing paper warping. In our tests we saw only slight warping when printing images at best quality with black emphasized.
The only complaint I have with Apple’s new StyleWriter has little to do with the printer itself. At a time when other inkjet printer manufacturers (particularily Hewlett Packard) are offering three year warranties, it is surpirsing that Apple continues to offer its paltry one-year AppleCare warranty.
The Color StyleWriter Pro offers rich, colorful output at an affordable price. While its feature set is nearly identical to the Hewlett Packard DeskWriter 560c, its better quality printing engine and output make it a more attractive purchase. 
  
Golf season is almost upon us and with it is EA Sports latest offering: PGA Pro
Tour Golf II. This version updates the original version with several new fea-
tures and innovations that golf afficianados will find quite interesting.
The most outstanding addition to PGA Pro Tour II is the Skins Tournament.
This adds an element of excitement not found in traditional play, by awarding a dollar amount to the winner of each hole. Should a tie occur, the amount is carried over to the next hole.
Gone is the annoying copyright protection that obliged you to input a number found in the manual each time you started up the game. In its stead is a much more tolerable 'one-time' password that is only necessary when the game is initially installed.
Several other new features include the 'Ball-Cam', which allows you to view your shot from the perspective of the ball; I found this feature entertaining, albeit a bit useless. (Not recommended for those suffering from motion sickness!). There is also the 'hole-browser', which allows you to view the hole from any angle, using a camera angle that you can control. Another useful feature is the 'Draw/Fade' control which allows you to control the amount of curve you put on your ball, giving you you the ability to shoot around objects such as trees that may get in your way.
There are also several more courses to choose from, up to seven from three, including The Scottsdale in Arizona. This course is unique because it comprises more sand than grass. Other new courses include River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, SouthWind in Memphis, Tennessee, and The Summerlin in Las Vegas, Nevada. You will find an admirable selection of opponents included as well; sixty different Pro golfers can be selected from to play a particular tournament, or you can combine almost any number of 'real' players with a choice of Pros to make the game more interesting. Each Pro golfer is programmed to play as the real McCoy would: golfers known for long drives will hit long drives, and so on.
Golfers using the original version will attest to the addictiveness of this game. Now with new features, it will get even more difficult to tear yourself away. So take advantage, sharpen your eye by playing a few rounds of Skins against a worthy opponent such as Fuzzy Zoeller or Brad Faxon...at least until golf season is in full 'swing'. 
