PC Magazine - 17 July 2007


PC Magazine, the most important technology publication in the world, delivers authoritative, labs-based comparative reviews of computing and Internet products to more than 6.6 million highly engaged technology buyers. PC Magazine defines technology for e-business and is the only magazine with in-depth reviews and accurate, repeatable testing from PC Magazine Labs placed in the unique context of today's business technology landscape. To meet its readers needs for buying information that is as current as it is comprehensive, PC Magazine publishes 22 times a year in print and continuously on the Web.

CONTENT:
First Looks
BlackBerry 8830 (Verizon)
Bomgar Box B100
Adobe Flash CS3 Professional
Adobe Illustrator CS3
Dell Latitude D630
Fuji Finepix F40fd
Fujitsu Lifebook A6030
Gateway E-265M
Google Apps
Helio Ocean (Pantech PN-810)
HP Pavilion dv2500t
HP Pavilion HDX9000
HP Pocket Media Drive PD0800
iLoad
Iomega StorCenter Pro NAS 150d
Lenovo D221
Lenovo ThinkPad T61 Widescreen
NEC Multeos M46-AVT
Nikon Coolpix S50c
Noromis PhotoLab 2.0
Olympus Stylus 770 SW
Palm Treo 755p (Sprint)
Samsung SyncMaster 971P
Site of the Week: MOG
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T100
Sony VAIO VGF-WA1 Digital Music Streamer
Spiceworks 1.5

Google's Gambit
The search-Engine horse race is on, with Google six lengths ahead and its lead widening. Yahoo!'s disjointed attempts to pass Google have failed, Microsoft has come up lame, and dark horse ASK has barely made it out of the gate. Now Google has changed the game yet again. I recently attended the company's Searchology conference, where it rolled out Universal Search, an advance that puts Google into a brand-new class.

World-Class Navigation and Audio
EPA rating: 20 mpg city / 25 highway (diesel)
Pros Excellent fuel economy. No diesel smell or clatter inside and virtually none outside.

Cons Awkward previous-generation Comand dashboard controller with a glut of buttons. Turbo-diesel engine doesn't meet emissions specs in five states. Costly Bluetooth option.The only thing that a truck belching clouds of smelly black exhaust and the Mercedes-Benz GL320 CDI have in common is the fuel they burn: diesel. This large, seven-passenger SUV has been to finishing school both inside and out, and it delivers an experience that sounds, feels, and smells like that of a gasoline-engine car—except that the GL320 CDI gets nearly 40 percent more miles per gallon than its gas-engine counterpart. Fill up and drive from New York City to Boston and back again, and your fuel tank will still register between a quarter and a half full.

Five Ideas That Will Reinvent Modern Computing
What's in the works at the leading high-tech research labs? Some awfully cool stuff—to say the least. This spring, we checked in on five of our favorites—Bell Labs, HP Labs, IBM Research, Microsoft Research, and the granddaddy of them all: the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), the former Xerox facility that spawned Ethernet, laser printing , the GUI operating system, and so much more. These research powerhouses have gone through a fair number of changes in recent years—PARC is now a completely independent operation—but they continue to push the outside of the high-tech envelope. Here, we profile a particularly clever project from each one, showcasing five ideas that reinvent everything from pointing devices to artificial intelligence. Some could bear fruit in a matter of months. Others might need years. But all will pique your interest.

more inside ....