PC Magazine USA 2011-05

essential iPaD tiPs & tRiCKs
may 2011
The Best Ways To Give Your PC A Spring Cleaning

FIRST LOOKS: Nintendo 3DS
mOBILE GUIDE 2011

Top Products to Keep You Connected
10 People You Should Follow On Twitter
may 2011
vol. 30 no. 5
32
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CovER SToRy
STAY CONNECTED: THE TOP MObILE PRODUCTS Wherever you go, whatever you do, you always want to be connected. our buying guide points you to the best mobile products to make sure you dont miss an e-mail, text, RSS feed, or status update, no matter where you are.
PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION may 2011
10
FIRST looKS
8 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS nintendo 3DS HTC Thunderbolt (verizon Wireless) vizio XvT3D650Sv Canon PowerShot Elph 300 HS Peel Universal Control
14
TECH nEWS
5 FRONT SIDE The iPad emerges as a business tool; the top 10 people to follow on Twitter; Internet connectivity on subwayswhats the holdup?
oPInIonS
2 FIRST wORD: LANCE ULANOFF 26 JOHN C. DvORAk 28 SASCHA SEGAN 30 DAN COSTA
14 HARDwARE HP Pavilion p6787c-b visioneer mobility logitech dinovo mini 18 bUSINESS lenovo Thinkpad X220 ioSafe SoloPRo lexmark C792de 22 SOFTwARE Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Firefox 4.0 Corel videoStudio Pro X4 54 EDITORS CHOICE
SolUTIonS
40 SPRING CLEAN YOUR PC nows the perfect time to do some PC maintenance. Here are the best ways to clean the outside as well as the insidefrom defragging to uninstalling to updating software. 46 IPAD 2 TIPS AND TRICkS after more than a month of testing and using the iPad 2, weve learned some cool tricks that will help you make the most of your experience.
PC Magazine Digital Edition, ISSn 0888-8507, is published monthly at $12 for one year. Ziff Davis media Inc., 28 East 28th Street, new york ny 10016-7940.
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may 2011 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 1
FIRST WORD LANCE ULANOFF
Is There a Cure For Bad Apps?

pple, Google, Microsoft, RIM and even Amazonare all in the app business. Some much, much more than others. These virtual software stores are considered something of a retail revolution. You can find virtually any kind of software in each of these application repositories: Theyre like department stores full of products right on your smartphone. They dont sell towels, Tupperware, or toys, but applications are, as we know, incredibly versatile. They can do almost anything, and thats where the trouble begins. Considering that this is all just software, how much trouble can you really get into with an app? In an app store as large as Apples (300,000 apps and counting), its easy to miss most appspeople tend to see the Featured and Popular ones. A search, though, can help you discover apps for all sorts of topics. We learned recently, for example, that all the major app stores, Apples, RIMs and Googles, feature apps
that can help drunk drivers elude DUI checkpoints. U.S. senators took exception to this and have now called for their removal from all the app stores. And for good reason. This isnt the first, nor will it be the last, questionable app category. Apple, which has both the largest and most popular app store, has been dealing with questionable apps for years. A booty-shaking app was another notable winner of the headline Most Offensive App Ever. Not every app is so obviously outside the lines of good sense or taste. Earlier this year at CES, I saw a number of apps that turned your phones into speed-trap detectors. Run any one of them and you could avoid ticket hot zones while going as fast as you want when the cops arent looking. This would seem to encourage reckless behavior, yet I dont remember anyone getting particularly upset about their existence. Sometimes its not the content thats the problem, but whats lurking beneath the surface. Last month Google reached out and pulled Android apps not only from the store,
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2 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION MAY 2011
At CeS were apps that turn your phones into speed-trap detectors. This seems to encourage reckless behavior, yet I dont remember anyone getting particularly upset about them.
but directly off Android users phones to protect them from malware-carrying apps. Apparently these products would do one thing on the surface while trying to secretly steal your personal info, but only got fairly useless device-identifying codes. Consumers were not only shocked at what Google found, but the way in which it took action. As most people know, Apples App Store is one of the most tightly controlled product markets around. Apple vets each and every one of the apps and the approval process can be arduous. Most assumed that the Android Market was a bit more like the Wild West. There isnt really a vetting process. If you follow the guidelines, you can publish the app and then offer it in the Android Market or even from your own Web servers. So it came as quite a surprise that Google could somehow identify and nuke specific apps right off anyones phone. I am glad Google saved consumers from themselves by removing malware-infested apps, and I applaud Apples decision to stop offering Shaken Baby and, more recently, Gay Cure. On the other hand, this is a very slippery slope. Many people already complain about Apples often confusing, inconsistent, and seemingly cavalier attitude toward app approval, denial, and removal. Are we saying that this attitude is okay when we agree with the actions? Similarly, doesnt it concern people that Google can reach out and touch any phone running Android? Microsoft regularly sends system updates to everyone running Windows, but we choose whether or not to install them and no one at Microsoft seems interested in removing products from our machines. But it is applying Apple-like control over the Windows Phone App development process. Windows Phone developers submit their apps for certification, and a vetting type process occurs. For better or worse, this is the new world of application creation, delivery, and access. Companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and RIM are now the gate keepers, and theyre not perfect. What do we want these companies to do? Provide the seemingly necessary checks and balances to protect our phones, tablets, and even sensibilities? Or do we want consumers to beware and stop downloading bad apps, and application developers to build better, more useful and far less objectionable apps?
Follow me on TwITTer! Catch the chiefs comments on the latest tech developments at twitter.com/LanceUlanoff.
MAY 2011 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 3
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Editor-in-ChiEf, pC magazinE nEtwork Editor, pC magazinE digital Edition

EXECUtiVE Editor
Lance Ulanoff
Stephanie Chang
www.pcmag.com
Vicki B. Jacobson Dan Costa nEwS dirECtor Peter Pachal CrEatiVE dirECtor Chris Phillips homE pagE Editor Don Sears fEatUrES Editor Eric Griffith managEr, onlinE prodUCtion Yun-San Tsai prodUCErS Mark Lamorgese, Whitney A. Reynolds nEwS EditorS Chloe Albanesius (East Coast), Mark Hachman (West Coast) rEportErS Leslie Horn, Sarah Yin Staff Editor Jennifer Bergen (blogs) CommErCE prodUCEr Arielle Rochette aSSiStant Editor Hilary Scott Utility program managEr Tim Smith aSSiStant dESignEr Jackie Smith ContribUting EditorS Tim Bajarin, John R. Delaney, John C. Dvorak, Bill Howard, Jamie Lendino, Edward Mendelson
dirECtor of onlinE ContEnt, EXECUtiVE prodUCEr pC labS managing EditorS
Sean Carroll (software, security, Internet, business), Wendy Sheehan Donnell (consumer electronics), Laarni Almendrala Ragaza (hardware) lEad analyStS Cisco Cheng (laptops), Tim Gideon (consumer electronics), Samara Lynn (business, networking), Michael Muchmore (software), Matthew Murray (DIY, components) Neil J. Rubenking (security), Joel Santo Domingo (desktops), Sascha Segan (mobile), M. David Stone (printers, scanners) analyStS Tony Hoffman (printers, scanners), PJ Jacobowitz (consumer electronics) jUnior analyStS Alex Colon (consumer electronics), Jill Duffy (software, Internet, networking), Will Fenton (software, Internet, networking), Will Greenwald (consumer electronics), David Pierce (consumer electronics), Natalie Shoemaker (hardware), Brian Westover (hardware), Jeffrey Wilson (software, Internet, networking) inVEntory Control Coordinator Nicole Graham Staff photographEr Scott Schedivy Eric Koepele 212-503-5250 James Selden 212-503-4689 markEting managEr Lindsay Garrison 212-503-5270 wEb dESignEr Yoland Ouiya adVErtiSing offiCE 28 E. 28th St., New York, NY 10016-7940; phone, 800-336-2423, 212-503-3500; fax, 212-503-5000; www.pcmagmedia.com
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Front
Whats New from the World of Tech
Doing Business on The iPad

Apple has high hopes for its tablet in the enterprise space.
Is the iPad a bad tool for business? Dell and HP seem to think so. Both companies recently bashed apples enterprise strategy, casting it as arrogant, immature, and doomed to fail. Then SmithBucklin rebutted by becoming the first known company to place an enterprise order for iPad 2s. SmithBucklin is a global association management company. One of the main reasons SmithBucklin chose the iPad 2 over, say, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, motorola Xoom, or any number of upcoming tablets, was to encourage employees to engage more in social media. We advise our clients all the time on managing blogs, commenting, updating Facebook pages, etc., mike Nikolich, SmithBucklins chief marketing officer, told PCmag. Ultimately we see the iPad 2 as a productivity tool. Its a lot easier to bring the tablet on the train or out of town for work, and lots of people here already use them during meetings. The iPad has come a long way from being
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frONTsIDE
called a toy to being respected as a computing tool. a lot of this is due to the slew of new productivity appsfrom medical to calendarsthat started coming out last fall. In recent months apple has paid more attention to many of its enterprise offerings. Last week apple updated iOS 4.3.1, fixing glitches in its enterprise Web services. In early march, apple unveiled a specialized support plan for small businesses, called Joint Venture. Back in January, apple reportedly hired a new global security director, David Rice, to focus on enterprise security surrounding the iPhone and iPad. and last October, apple reportedly struck a deal with Unisys to market its products to business and government customers. Companies from JP morgan to mercedesBenz began testing first-generation iPads in the office last year. apples PC rivals may scoff at apples attempts to enter a PC-dominant enterprise segment, but as Salesforce.com CEO marc Benioff described the situation in a keynote address last month, corporate IT strategy is heading toward the consumerization of IT and the increase of mobile devices, like the iPad, into the corporate world. Will the iPad dominate the enterprise tablet market like it has the consumer one? We should have the answer in the coming months, as business-friendly slates like the BlackBerry PlayBook and HP TouchPad enter the fray.Sara Yin
Top 10 People to Follow on Twitter

Ever on Twitter and wonder, why doesnt anyone say anything interesting anymore? If youre looking for new people to follow, here is our list of top 10 Tweeters. 1. @Alyssa_Milano: The actress and activist tweets about her show-biz life, baseball obsession, dog rescue, motherhood, etc. 2. @AnnCurry The Today news anchor offers a nice blend of the news and innergoings-on at NBC. 3. @ariannahuff arianna Huffington is founder of the Huffington Post and now president of all of aOLs editorial properties, but stays tied to the people using Twitter. 4. @Nerdist Comedian Chris Hardwick is also a musician and host of G4s Web Soup. 5. @CornellWest This provocative civil rights activist and authors daily tweets are interesting and inspiring. 6. @pogue The New york Times David Pogue keeps a very active, running dialogue going with his audience of tech junkies. 7. @TheEllenshow Ellen DeGeneres writes her own tweets, so theyre generally funny. 8. @harrymccracken The founder of the blog Technologizer, Harry offers an interesting take on consumer technology. 9. @dooce Heather B. armstrong leaves no topic off the table, be it her family, religion, or her bouts with depression. 10. @realjohngreen John Green, awardwinning young-adult novelist, tweets to his following, the Nerd Fighters.Eric Griffith Our list continues if you click here.
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6 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION may 2011
Wi-Fi on Subways: Where Is It?

For years Wi-Fi connections have been ubiquitous on university campuses, in coffee shops, and in public buildings for years, yet most of us are still waiting for them to grace our morning commutes. While commuters in many cities overseas, such as London, have some kind of connectivity (in stations, on trains, or both), the U.S. hasnt been so lucky. Even in the highly connected San Francisco Bay area, underground Wi-Fi in BaRT stations is still a thing of the future. Heres the state of connectivity on trains in five major U.S. cities: Boston: The city has completed Phase 2 of its plan to provide continuous cell service in both the stations and on the trains. Riders will also find free Wi-Fi services on 258 carriages along its Commuter Rail service. Chicago: Cellular coverage in the citys Red and Blue subway lines covers aT&T, Verizon, Cricket and U.S. Cellular customers, across both station and trains, but Wi-Fi service isnt available yet in the citys transportation systems. New York City: The first phase to add Wi-Fi to the citys subway stations will begin with the first six stations in the L line and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. all 277 underground subway stations are expected to have Wi-Fi by 2016.
WI-fI fOr sTrAP HANGErs Phase 1 of a pilot Wi-Fi program for New yorks subways is expected to be completed this year.
san francisco: almost the entire BaRT line is now seamlessly connected via 3G, at least for most of the major networks. Wi-Fi service is scheduled to be completed later this year. Washington D.C.: Twenty of Washingtons busiest underground metrorail stations have had expanded cell phone service since 2009. Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, aT&T and T-mobile are expected to complete a new wireless infrastructure underground by 2012. Eventually, metrorail will add Wi-Fi services to the mix, but its unclear when.Mark Hachman
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INSIDE 8 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS 14 HARDWARE 18 BUSINESS 22 SOFTWARE
First
Like all glasses-free 3D displays, the 3DS requires that you look at its screen in a very specific way. The ideal position is to hold the 3DS 14 inches away, looking at the screen straight-on, parallel with your face. It takes a few minutes to really hit that sweet spot of screen viewingone of the displays big flawsbut when you do, the experience can be pretty unbelievable. The 3D effect ranges from the engrossing to the gimmicky and poorly implemented, and it can differ from game to game or from viewing position to viewing position. When its really well done, the game becomes a hypnotic, compelling experience. The screen becomes a little window into the game, where the characters really look like theyre moving back and forth before your eyes, rushing from the foreground to the background and back again, against a setting that stretches far beyond the surface of the screen. Without its 3D display, the Nintendo 3DS is a top-notch upgrade to the original Nintendo DS. With 3D, its a compelling handheld gaming system with a surprisingly
Nintendo 3DS
A Game Changer
Nintendo has a long history as the reigning king of portable gaming, starting with the Game Boy Brand. It was eventually replaced by the Nintendo DS, which has been the most popular handheld video game system in history, selling more than 144 million units in seven years. Now, its successor, the 3DS, proves to be a more sophisticated system that can play DS games in, you guessed it, 3D, without the need for 3D glasses. At first glance, the 3DS is nearly identical to the DS Lite and DSi, but it adds an analog control pad, a larger, upper 3D screen, and two-lens 3D camera. From a pure gameplay perspective, the analog pad is the best addition to the 3DS. The top screen is a wide-angle, 3.5-inch, glasses-free 3D LCD that uses a special visual filter to send two different angles of view into your eyes. Its like a high-tech, electronic version of lenticular 3D. The 3D screen has a resolution of 800 by 240, but since thats split across two eyes, its effective resolution is 400 by 240.
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our rAtINGS kEy: l l l l l EXCELLENT l l l l m VERY GOOD l l l m m GOOD l l m m m FAIR l m m m m POOR
well-implemented and immersive hook, built on top of a well-designed device. And it has a massive, rock-solid gaming library to boot. While its the most expensive Nintendo handheld to date, its well worth the $250 price tag. Even if you already have a Nintendo DS, its worth upgrading. A growing library of compelling 3DS-only games and a 3D experience you simply cant get anywhere else makes this a must-have system for any gamer.Will Greenwald
>>CLICK HERE FOR MORE
Nintendo 3DS
$249.99 list
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PROS 3D works surprisingly well. Bright, beautiful screen. Analog thumb pad is comfortable. Compatible with DS game titles. CONS 3D can be hit or miss; requires watching the screen at just the right angle.
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FIRST LOOKS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
HTC Thunderbolt (Verizon Wireless)
Lightning Fast, Short Battery Life

The first 4G LTE cell phone for Verizon Wireless, the HTC Thunderbolt, is the fastest Internet phone ever, and it wins our Editors Choice for the top touchscreen smartphone on Verizon Wireless. But that scorching speed has a price: It burns up the phones battery, so youll need to bring a spare. At 6.4 ounces, the Thunderbolt looks and feels huge, but its classy looking. Theres a small 1.3-megapixel camera next to the earpiece, and a larger 8-megapixel shooter on the back, along with a kickstand, so you can prop the phone up on a table or a desk. Verizons LTE network currently runs in about 40 metro areas, and its constantly expanding. The monthly $30 smartphone data plan costs the same as a 3G data plan does. And for now, you get unlimited data. Upload and download speeds were incredible; I grabbed a 99MB episode of The Colbert Report from Bitbop in four minutes. As a voice phone, the Thunderbolt is just fine. RF reception is on the good side of average. Voice quality is strong; the earpiece is loud and theres an unusual amount
HTC Thunderbolt (Verizon Wireless)

$249 with two-year contract
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PROS Incredible Internet speeds. Big, gorgeous screen. Elegant interface. Simultaneous voice and data. Lots of storage. CONS Heavy. Poor battery life when surfing or streaming on 4G. Occasional bugs.
of side-tone, the reflection of your own voice in your ear that prevents you from yelling. If you need a lightning-fast phone and dont mind paying a premium, the Thunderbolt is for you. Just make sure to buy a second battery.Sascha Segan
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Vizio XVT3D650SV
Theater-like 3D On a Big Screen

The Vizio XVT3D650SV may not be the first 65-inch LCD HDTV or the first 3D HDTV to hit the PCMag Labs, but it is the first set that uses passive, rather than active, shutter 3D technology. While it isnt exactly budget-priced, at $3,699.99, its actually quite reasonable for a set of this size, especially since you get four pairs of 3D glasses in the box. Passive technology is similar to what you get when you go to a movie theater and wear those flimsy filter glasses. This set uses the same type of polarized glassesrather than the heavy battery-powered activeshutter specs used with other 3D setsand they are very lightweight and comfortable. When it comes to 3D performance, the XVT3D650SV delivers the goods. We found depth of field to be every bit as good as our current Editors Choice, the Samsung PN58C8000, and crosstalk artifacts were minimal. Color quality was excellent and the picture remained fairly bright as well. However, background detail appeared a bit sharper on the Samsung set. The Vizio XVT3D650SV is a good choice for anyone looking to bring big-screen 3D to a home-entertainment setup without shell-
Vizio XVT3D650SV
$3,699.99 list
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PROS Very good SD and HD image quality. Good black levels and 3D depth. Generous port selection. Integrated Wi-Fi. Bundled Bluetooth remote control with QWERTY keyboard. Four pairs of lightweight 3D glasses included; additional pairs are inexpensive. CONS 3D background quality could be sharper. No 2D to 3D conversion capability. Lackluster design.
ing out $150 a pop for 3D glasses. Its $3,700 price tag may seem high, but you get a lot in terms of screen real estate, performance, and features, and youll save hundreds on the price of extra glasses for friends and family. But if you want the best possible 3D picture, the Samsung PN58C8000 is still our reigning champ.John R. Delaney and Will Greenwald
>> CLICK HERE FOR MORE
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Canon PowerShot Elph 300 HS
A Sleek, Solid Point-and-Shoot

heres a compelling argument to be made for the demise of point-and-shoot cameras. It goes something like this: Youve got a pretty good camera on your smartphone anyway, so why do you need a second device that doesnt offer much more? Canon surely knows that some people think that way, and the 12.1-megapixel Canon PowerShot Elph 300 HS hints at the companys response. The 300 HS offers speed, low-light performance, and ease of use that few, if any, phone cameras can match. It packs a lot of features into a small body, with good performance on all fronts and specs a step above many entrylevel pocket cameras. Canons interface doesnt vary much across models, so the 300 HS will be instantly familiar to Canon users. Its heavily icon-based, with helpful explanations whenever you scroll over an icon. The name of the game, at least according to Canon, is speed. The Elph 300 HS is extremely fast, in almost every operation. It takes an average of 2.03 seconds to turn on and capture an image, which is nearly a second and a half faster than the Kodak M580. The recycle time between shots averages
Canon PowerShot Elph 300 HS

$249.99 list
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PROS Small, compact body. Fast performance. Sharp images. Shoots 1080p video. Can zoom and focus while recording video. CONS Body feels like sandpaper.
2.18 seconds, also extremely fast. The PowerShot Elph 300 HS also scored very well on image sharpness. If youre looking for a small, fast camera that takes good pictures thanks to its upgraded lens, the Canon PowerShot Elph 300 HS is an excellent choice. If you dont need such a small body, youll get better images for less money from the larger, but still-pocketable Kodak M580.David Pierce
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FIRsT LOOKs CONsUMER ELECTRONICs
Peel Universal Control
Control Via Your iPhone

This app and hardware add-on for iPhone and iPod touch is an incredibly easy-to-set-up universal remote for all your home theater components. It also provides a better way to navigate and discover content youll actually want to watch. While its not your typical standalone universal remote, the Peel wins our Editors Choice. The Peel consists of three pieces: a mobile app for the iPhone and iPod touch (with Android and iPad versions coming soon); a 10-foot black cable that plugs into a power outlet and into your Wi-Fi routers Ethernet port; and the Peel Fruit, a plastic, pear-shaped infrared blaster, powered by a C-size battery, that sends the Peels commands to your home-theater components. The Peel app has a couple of cool features that dont rely on any Peel hardware. Tell it the kinds of shows you like to watch, and mark shows as your favorites, or cut them so theyre never shown to you. As you watch TV, your recommendations get better and better thanks to Peels algorithm. With the Peel Universal Control, the app becomes even better. Find programming you want
Peel Universal Control

$99 list
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PROs Incredibly simple to set up. Finding content to watch is easy and can be personalized. Compatible with a wide array of hometheater components. CONs Only available for iPhone and iPod touch. Limited interaction with services like Netflix and DVRs.
to watch, such as a basketball game, and a Watch on TV button shows up. Tap the button, and since the Peel knows your channel lineup, it flips straight to the game. Unfortunately, the Peel Universal Control wont let you throw all your other remotes awayfor some functions, its just not capable enough. But what it lacks in power, it makes up for in convenienceits incredibly easy to set up and intuitive to use, and once youve personalized it a bit, its an excellent way to find stuff to watch.David Pierce
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fIrsT LOOks HArDWArE
HP Pavilion p6787c-b
A Dual-Monitor Desktop Thats in A Class By Itself

he HP Pavilion p6787c-b is in a category of one: Its the only dual-monitor desktop system thats available in a big-box retail store. People who do a lot of multitasking, especially when working with digital media (photos, videos, music) will enjoy the extra room for toolbars, extra wide documents, or even HD video playback while working in the other monitor. People who use two (or more) monitors at work can tell you that more than one screen can help the mutlitasker get more done. Want to surf and watch Hulu at the same time? Sure, put Hulu on one screen and the browser on the other. Want to edit a six-page-wide spreadsheet? Go for it. You can set one screen up to be your workspace in Photoshop and the other for just your toolbars and IM program. You can even watch a 1080p HD streaming film on one screen while doing work on the other.
$1,149.99 list
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PrOs Two monitors included in package. Simultaneous monitor support. Two-year warranty. Two 1080p HD large screen monitors. Wi-Fi. Quad-core power. CONs No eSATA. No USB 3.0. No Blu-ray. No speakers built into monitors. Bloatware.
The p6787c-b comes with two HP 2311x 23-inch widescreen monitors bundled in. They can both be hooked up to the ATI Radeon HD 6450 cardone via DVI and one via HDMI (the bundle includes one DVI cable and one HDMI cable). The desktop automatically sets itself up for a dual-monitor configuration with a single desktop spanning both monitors. That way you can drag a window from one side to the other without losing any image data. The p6787c-b comes with a 2-year warranty, standard for HP systems bought
sPECs AMD Phenom II processor; 8GB RAM; 1500GB hard drive; AMD Radeon HD 6450; Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW; 23-inch LCD Widescreen; Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition
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from Costco. The warranty covers the PC and both monitors for two years, software support for one year, and general tech support for the life of the unit. The desktop also comes with a six-month subscription to Norton Internet Security. Id like to see 12 to 15 months, but 6 months is still better than the 30-day subscription found in many retail systems. The p6787c-b does a good job on our multimedia benchmark tests, making for a good fit for the multimedia maven. Like other quad-core powered systems, the Handbrake video test takes a scant 2 minutes 38 seconds to complete, and Photoshop CS5 takes
5:14. Both scores are on the quick side and fast enough to keep an enthusiast happy. It will certainly be faster than what you could get done on a nettop or tablet. The p6787cbs discrete graphics card gives you a little bit of 3D gaming ability, as well. The current Editors Choice for midpriced desktops is the Dell Inspiron i5808139NBC. Because of its price ($499.98 list) and feature list, it holds on to its title. But if youre a multitasker who considers a dual-monitor situation ideal, the HP Pavilion p6787c-b is the deal for you. Joel Santo Domingo
>> CLICk HErE fOr MOrE
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FIRsT LOOKs HARDwARE
Visioneer Mobility
See Your Scans On Your Phone

The Visioneer Mobility ($199.99 direct) isnt the first portable document scanner that can scan without a computer. But its certainly the first weve seen to offer a good solution to the biggest problem with scanning without a computer, and thats enough to make it Editors Choice. The key shortcoming to PC-free scanning is that the scans get stored in memory without your seeing them first. If you transfer them to your PC sometime later, and find out the quality isnt good enough, its too late to rescan something you no longer have in hand. The Mobility can scan directly to any smartphone that can act like a USB drive when you connect it to a PC, because it will look like a USB drive to the scanner, too. That lets you see the image on the phones screen after the scan. I tried with an Android-based phone and it worked swimmingly. The Mobility is a little large for a portable manual sheetfed scanner, at 2 by 11.75 by 2.75 inches (HWD), and a touch heavier than most, at about 1.4 pounds. However, its
Visioneer Mobility $199.99 direct

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PROs Portable. Scans with or without a computer. Scans to smartphone so you can see scanned images immediately. CONs You have to be careful to scan business cards in proper file format or the business card program cant read them.
lighter than the computer you wont have to carry, and it comes with its own soft, padded carrying case. Id like the Mobility even more if it were a little lighter (say, under a pound), if it had its own screen for viewing scans, or both. But until a scanner with those features comes along, the Mobility is way out in front of everyone else. Being able to see your scans on the spot, as long as you have a smartphone, is a big plus for scanning without a PC.M. David Stone
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FIRsT LOOKs HARDwARE
Logitech diNovo Mini
A Superb Keyboard For the Living Room

The Logitech diNovo Mini is a small texting keyboard for your home-entertainment PC setup. Its compact size makes it blend in easily with your other remotes, and Bluetooth and wireless USB connectivity options allow it to pair with multiple devicesold and new. The diNovo may not be a full-sized keyboard, but its the perfect living-room solution, and is our Editors Choice for home entertainment keyboards. The diNovo Mini is the smallest device weve reviewed yet in the home entertainment keyboard space, measuring 1.08 by 5.98 by 3.5 inches (HWD) and weighing 0.36 pounds. Underneath the clamshell black plastic cover is the QWERTY keypad. The keys have a soft matte plastic finish and are raised in the center to prevent mis-types similar to the Motorola Droid 2s keys. The top of the keyboard is lined with eight multimedia buttons to control volume; record, skip forward or back through a movie or album; play/pause, and stop. Logitech diNovo Mini
$149.99 direct
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PROs Backlit keys. Raised keys feels like texting. Media buttons. Bluetooth. Wireless USB dongle. Rechargeable lithium-ion battery. CONs Must press FN in order to right-click. Glossy frame and cover tends to attract finger print and smudge marks.
Instead of having a trackball, the diNovo has a thumb touchpad that was roomy enough to navigate around a computer screen. The diNovo Mini provides both Bluetooth connectivity and a wireless USB dongle as well. Its lithium battery is rechargeable and supposedly has up to 30 days of life. The Logitech diNovo Mini is everything you would need in a home entertainment keyboard. Backlit keys, multiple connectivity options, a well-integrated mousepad, and media buttons make the diNovo the winner in the home entertainment keyboard category.Natalie Shoemaker
MAY 2O11 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION 17
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fIrsT LOOks busINEss
Lenovo ThinkPad X220
A Business Laptop That Has It All

Packed in its 12.5-inch frame, the Lenovo ThinkPad X220 sports a brand new Intel Core i5 processor, improved keyboard with larger keys, feather-light weight, and fantastic battery life, keeping Lenovo on top in the business ultraportable category. The X220s plain, all-black frame isnt a head-turner, but it is impressively sturdy. It is subjected to a series of military torture tests before it goes out to the customer, involving moisture, vibrations, drops, and extreme temperature fluctuations. Its outer frame and inner skeleton, furthermore, are crafted from solid magnesium, not cheap plastic. Despite its ruggedized exterior, the X220 still weighs only 3.3 pounds. The 12.5-inch widescreen proves to be a very capable and productive size. And if past X-series keyboards were considered great in the past, this one will surpass them. The X220s new keyboard is essentially the one youll find in its 14-inch and 15-inch siblings. The Escape and Delete keys are twice their original size. Its a magnificent typing experience, to say the least. The X220 has both a pointing stick and touchpad, with the second pair of mouse buttons integrated into the touchpad. Two very notable features are now part of the X220 family. The DisplayPort, a cousin of HDMI, is more about-time than revolutionary, but it will give presenters a way to simultaneously stream audio and video in digital form. There is also VGA aboard as another video-output option. The Webcam now has an HD sensor, which lets you video conference in a 1,280-by-720 resolution (720p). Thats three times the resolution of the previous iterations Webcam. Performance With its second-generation 2.5-GHz Intel Core i5-2520M processor, the X220 scored 2:25 on Handbrake and 2.82 on CineBench R11.5 testsboth processor-intensive testsbeating out the Sony Z1390X and Dell V130. In an overall test like PCMark Vantage, the X220 beat the Lenovo X201 by a 9-percent margin. Better yet, the X220 can
sPECs 2.5-GHz Intel Core i5-2520M processor; 4GB RAM; 320GB hard drive; Intel HD Graphics 3000; 12.5-inch widescreen; 3.3 pounds; 802.11n wireless; Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Edition
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Lenovo ThinkPad X220

$1,299 direct
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PrOs Phenomenal typing experience. Improved keyboard. Larger 12.5-inch widescreen. Durable. DisplayPort and HD Webcam are new to the family. Excellent battery life. Best-in-class performance. Dual pointing devices. CONs New touchpad design is a one-finger-at-a-time navigating tool. Unexciting color.
now handle 3D games without a discrete graphics chip, as the integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 is more than four times as powerful as the previous iteration. Battery life was equally impressive; with its 63WH battery (6-cell) battery, it scored an impressive 8 hours 40 minutes. Although the Lenovo X201 lasted 9:36, it did so with a much bigger battery (94WH). The Lenovo ThinkPad X220 is an amazing piece of engineering when you factor in all the features it squeezed into a 12-inch frame. And until other laptops transition to the new Intel architecture, the X220 is the fastest business ultraportable and in a league of its own.Cisco Cheng
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FIRST LOOKS BUSINESS
ioSafe SoloPRO
Backup With Brawn And Speed

There are myriad ways of safeguarding your business or personal data: Online backups, network backups, tape drives, and even burning to DVDs. However, even veteran PC and Mac users will agree that its intimidating to set up a backup method. ioSafe SoloPRO is a desktop-class external hard drive that safeguards your data by the simplest of methodsbrute force. It can physically keep your data files from literally walking away, plus its built to take fire, flood, and physical damage in stride. The included Data Recovery Service (DRS) is what makes this drive the one to beat. The drive comes with DRS for one year (worth up to $2,500 in service fees), upgradable to three years ($49 extra) or five years ($99 extra). The five-year plan also adds two more years to the included three-year warranty. If the drive is damaged during the coverage period, send the drive back to ioSafe, and theyll recover your data, no questions asked, and send you a replacement hard drive with your recovered data saved to it. The SoloPro is a speedy hard drive, thanks
ioSafe SoloPRO
$249.99 list
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PROS Rugged to excess. Includes forensic data recovery service. USB 3.0. 3-year warranty. Fast performance. CONS Big. Expensive on a dollar-per-GB basis. 3-year recovery service is an upgrade.
to its USB 3.0 interface (it also comes with a USB 2.0 interface) and desktop-drive form factor. It finished the PCMark05 test with an 8,120 point score on USB 3.0 and 3,682 points on USB 2.0. Likewise, the drive copied our 1.2GB test folder in a swift 13 seconds in our drag-and-drop test on USB 3.0, and a still-decent 43 seconds on USB 2.0. The SoloPRO is a bit expensive on a dollar-per-GB basis, but youre paying for insurance, simplicity, and peace of mind. Joel Santo Domingo
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FIRsT LOOKs busINEss
Lexmark C792de
Solid Color Printing for Workgroups

he Lexmark C792de laser printer provides fast color laser printing to high-volume workgroups. It has good paper capacity (including lots of optional trays and accessories). Its output quality isnt at the top tier, but its more than adequate for most business needs, so it deserves a close look if youre in the market for a workhorse color printer. The C792de, a huge, 110-pound machine, comes with an automatic duplexer for printing on both sides of a sheet of paper, and a paper capacity of 650 sheets, split between a 550-sheet tray and a 100-sheet multipurpose feeder. The C792e, the same printer minus the duplexer, sells for $1,349. Lexmark rates the C792de at 50 pages per minute for both color and monochrome printing; the rated speeds are based on text printing only. We tested it at 8.5 effective pages per minute (ppm) on the latest version of our business applications suite, which combines text pages, graphics pages, and pages with mixed content. Although thats somewhat slow compared
Lexmark C792de
$1,599 direct
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PROs Numerous paper-handling accessories. Fast. Touch screen. CONs Output, though solid, was unimpressive. No media-card reader.
with its rated speed, its fast among color lasers. Text quality was just on the low side of average for a laser, which still makes it good enough for virtually any general business use except for those requiring very small fonts. Graphics and photo quality were typical of a color laser. The Lexmark C792de is fast, and produces solid output, though not at the level of the likes of the Xerox Phaser 6280DN. Its running costs are good if you stick to highcapacity cartridges, though solid-ink printers such as the Xerox Phaser 8860 provide much lower color costs. Tony Hoffman
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fIrsT LOOks sOfTWArE
Internet Explorer 9 (IE9)
A Faster, Slimmer Int
nternet Explorer 9 is the result of an enormous effort by Microsofts browser development team, and benefited from more beta tester feedback than any previous product from the company. Its a huge advance from the Internet Explorers of the past in terms of speed, trimmed down interface, and HTML5 support. Among all current browsers, Internet Explorer 9 gives the most space to the Web page, with a drastically cropped topwindow frame that takes up just 63 pixels, compared with Chromes 89. Microsoft has also built in the unique new Tracking Protection, which gives users more control than Chrome and Firefoxs solutions to this privacy issue. In some performance measures, particularly graphics manipulation tasks, IE9 outperforms all comers. On two out of three JavaScript benchmarks, however, its bested by both Chrome and Firefox 4. Finally, IE9 tweaks tabs, search, and its unique pinned-site capability, which places site icons in the Taskbar. The interface is nearly identical to that of the IE9 beta. Its minimalist window leaves more room to the Web page contents than any other new browser, keeping controls to a single row and combining the address and search boxes into one. Its not as drastic,
however, as Googles reduction of the interface to a single gear icon, and you can still enable IEs menus and toolbars, by rightclicking on the top window border. Microsoft has improved tabs work in IE9, bringing them up to date with the competitions. IE9 lets you drag tabs out of and back into your browser window to create new windows, as other browsers have done for a couple years. It even does a couple cool tricks with dragging tabs to a new window: If you do this while playing a video, the video continues to play as you drag it. Internet Explorer team lead Dean Hachamovitch used to criticize Chromes use of a combined address and search box, citing privacy concerns, but IE9 now has a
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ternet Explorer
Internet Explorer 9 (IE9)
Free
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PrOs New JavaScript engine and hardware acceleration mean greatly improved speed. Minimalist interface leaves more room for Web pages. Download manager with malware protection. Improved tab function. Many security features. Tracking Protection. Improved standards support. Pinned tabs make sites like apps in Windows 7. CONs Only works in Windows 7 and Vista. Still some occasional site incompatibilities.
single text box for addresses and search, too, called the One Box. Hachamovitch told me that IE9s version adds privacy, by letting you turn on an off the autosuggest feature of your search engine at will. Speed was the reason so many turned away from Internet Explorer (and Firefox) to
Googles Chrome. IE9 rights that, with top performance among all current browsers on some tests. It also adds speed through its innovative hardware acceleration, which works for more than just 3D graphics. IE9 is an impressive, innovative app that Im sure will come to benefit millions of Web users, especially once graphicsheavy sites are common. Its a no-brainer for those using IE8 on Windows 7 or Vista. But Google Chrome 10 remains my Editors Choice among Web browsers, because it adds nifty tricks like Instant Page display and syncing to already-blazing speed and minimalist designand brings that stuff to every currently popular operating system, including Windows XP.Michael Muchmore
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FIRsT LOOKs sOFTWARE
Firefox 4.0
Mozilla Is Back In the Game
ince the arrival of Googles Chrome browser, Firefox has been slipping in both mind and market share. Now with version 4, Firefox can nearly match Chrome on JavaScript speedeven currently beating it in 3D graphics acceleration; holds its own when it comes to HTML5 support; and offers a trimmed-down interface that gives the Web page center stage. Firefoxs new interface brings it in line with the trend of less is moreless space taken up by the browser frame and controls and more space for Web pages. For the past few years, Firefox has lagged behind the competition in startup time, especially after a reboot. On my tests, after a reboot, Firefox 4 took 6 seconds, compared with Chromes 2.6 seconds and IE9s 3.5 seconds. A restart of the browser took Firefox 2.2 seconds, Chrome .9 seconds, and IE9 1.1 seconds. So Firefox has made definite progress though is still slowest of the three. Firefox has long offered a raft of security features, including phishing and malware site protections, and integration with antivirus software. Add-on installation requires
Firefox 4.0
Free
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PROs Minimalist user interface. Much faster than previous versions. Panorama tab group organizes sites. Excellent new standards support. Pinned sites for all-the-time access. New add-on system is less intrusive. Syncing for tabs, history, passwords, and more. Graphics hardware acceleration. Cross-platform. CONs Still trails Chrome and IE9 on some benchmarks. Lacks client-side tracking protection like that of IE9. Lacks Chromes built-in Flash, PDF reader, and Instant search view. Trails Chrome in HTML5 support. No new-tab page helpers.
a secure connection, but Firefox doesnt go as far as Chromes sandboxing technology to completely isolate its code. True, Firefox has lost some momentum, but its fighting back. The projects developers have built a beautiful, responsive, compatible, secure, and flexible piece of software. But I still find our Editors Choice, Chrome, snappier and more capable, with built-in Flash and PDF support, and nifty Instant page display.Michael Muchmore
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FIRST LOOKS SOFTWARE
Corel VideoStudio Pro X4
Beyond Basic Movie Making
anadian software house Corel seems to be stuck playing second-fiddle to its competitors to the south. In office apps, it shadows Microsoft. In illustration and photo editing, Adobes number one. Though VideoStudio Pro X4 doesnt quite match our Editors Choice, CyberLink PowerDirector 9, in the speed of some operations or number of tracks allowed, Corel can stand tall and proud: VideoStudio is a welldesigned, easy-to-use, fast, and capable consumer digital video editor. A couple of its new tools are even class-leading, such as its stop-motion importer. The Stop Motion option opens a window from which you can capture clever animations from your webcam. Corels implementation of this is class-leading: It can even snap the images at set intervals, and an onion skin view shows you an outline of your last capture. Corels Instant Project feature is different from the magic movie maker features in most consumer video editors. Its more of a template tool with some prefab effects for you to manually build out with your own
Corel VideoStudio Pro X4

$99 direct
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PROS Well-designed, versatile interface. Lots of transitions and effects. Cool stop-motion and time-delay tools. Fast rendering and startup/ shutdown. Blu-ray and AVCHD burning. Rocksolid stable. CONS Limited number of video tracks. No tagging of clips or searching for effects.
content. You can insert an Instant Project template either before or after whatevers in your timeline, but its up to you to populate the template with content manually. I like what Corel has done with this application, and think a lot of people will find it a pleasure to use, especially for fun things like creating stop-motion and montages. For anyone moving from basic video tools like Windows Live Movie Maker, VideoStudio provides as good a transition to morepowerful video-editing techniques as you can find.Michael Muchmore
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jOhN C. DvOrAk
Growing Pains of the Mobile Phone Platform
he mobile phone computing platformand make no mistake, that is exactly what this is, presents a number of challenges for its makers. I say this because nobody is currently taking the mobile phone seriously as a computing platform. Theres an app for that doesnt really mean very much when the app is a fake cigarette lighter or a virtual coin that flips. Reminds me of the early days of the PC desktop revolution back in the mid-70s, when the market and users consolidated into something that finally made sense. The beginnings of the personal computer were flaky and rough, with dozens of incompatible ideas and designs. Most people credit the beginning of the revolution to the publishing of an article in the Ziff-Davis magazine Popular Electronics, in January 1975. It was a picture of the Altair computer. This was not actually the first machine designed using the new microprocessor from Intel, but it was the right machine at the right time and was the triggering mecha-
nism for everything we have today. The fact is, it didnt do crap and had to wait for both an operating system, CP/M, and some sort of programming language, Altair-BASIC. Then it didnt do much until people started to take the thing seriously. For a good five years between 1975 and 1980, a slew of also-rans came and went. Then a couple of seminal products such as the Electric Pencil, the first real desktop word processor, and VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program, came along and changed everything. The newest platform is having this same sort of growing pain. There is no Electric Pencil or VisiCalc for the smart-phone genre. The market is highly segmented with the iPhone, Android, RIM, Palm and Windows Phone 7. And while I have been predicting that the market will or should consolidate just like the PC business did into two distinct platforms (iPhone and Android), it is still possible for one of the other platforms to pull a rabbit out of the hat and become dominant.
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theres only one way a platform other than iPhone or android can become dominant: if it develops a killer app everyone must have.
Theres only one way this will happen: if one of the platforms finds or develops an exclusive killer app that everyone absolutely must have. People argue that the PC market would have never developed the way it did until VisiCalc. I would argue that the second-generation word processor WordStar may have had as much to do with it, but the debate over this is not as important as the fact that these two programs set in stone which companies would survive. In the case of the PC revolution it meant that two platforms would survive, the Apple and the PC. The Apple evolved into the Mac and the more nebulous S-100 personal computer evolved into the IBM PC platform. One was open with many manufacturers and the other was a closed shop, much like we are seeing today with the Android (open) and a slew of closed shops. If the past is the model for the future, the Android with its many makers is already winner number one if it can keep the only other licensed platform from gaining momentumWindows Phone 7. On the other side of the equation are the proprietary systems. Here is where there will be a great battle. Logic dictates that the winner there would be the Apple iPhone. But if Palm/HP or RIM or even Symbian can roll out a killer app that is so compelling that even I must buy a phone to utilize this marvelous program, then the iPhone can be knocked off its perch to devolve into an also-ran. A killer application of this ilk is long overdue. The last killer app was the invention of the browser, and everything has been pretty lame since then. Technically the most recent killer app would have to be Facebook, which qualifies as a must-have product. But it is a Web app that, to me, is hardly revolutionary. And its not something that sells anything. It doesnt sell specific computers or phones. While there are many apps waiting to be invented, whether any of them can be exclusive enough to lock people into a platform remains to be seen. Personally with the mobile-phone revolution I think were beyond the point of no return, and iPhone and Android are probably the winners. Im not sure companies like Palm/HP and RIM understand what they need to focus on to survive, so I offer up an idea. The One Million Dollar Killer app contest. Have some superstar out there design a killer app that only runs on your phone and can be protected by a patent or something and give them a million dollars. It would be a cheap investment. Its your only hope.
Dvorak Live on the Web Johns Internet TV show airs every Wednesday at 3:30 ET on CrankyGeeks.com. You can download back episodes whenever you like.
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SASCHA SEGAN
How AT&T Totally Flubbed 4G
T&T is lying about 4G. Shamelessly. The companys two 4G phones and its 4G modem dont deliver 4G even by AT&Ts own wishy-washy standards. Unfortunately, theres no such thing as the 4G police, and AT&T is going to get away with debasing the term and confusing consumers. First of all, 4G is close to meaningless anyway. Initially the International Telecommunications Union defined 4G as a bunch of super-fast technologies nobody has yet, but the ITU crumbled under pressure from various cell phone companies and now defines 4G as, basically, any cellular Internet network thats faster than what was considered the fastest technology in 2009. So were seeing wide varieties of 4G here in the USA. Verizon has the closest to what most people would think of as real 4G. Verizons LTE is a new technology thats faster than most home Internet connections. But just to confuse you, MetroPCS has LTE too but MetroPCSs 4G LTE can be slower than
AT&Ts 3G, because MetroPCS designed its network for low monthly plan costs rather than high speeds. You could argue that almost everyone has lied a little here. T-Mobile has two 4G phones, the myTouch 4G and T-Mobile G2, which (while excellent) use a technology (HSPA 14.4) that T-Mobile later said isnt 4G. MetroPCSs Samsung Craft phone, while it uses LTE, gets lower apparent speeds than many other carriers 3G smartphones because it has a slow processor and a relatively primitive Web browser. AT&T has reached a new low, though, by delivering 4G devices that are actually slower than the carriers own 3G devices. Yes, you read it correctly: for AT&T, 4G is a step backward. In the past few weeks weve compared two AT&T 4G phones and an AT&T 4G modem against a few 3G devices. AT&T recently confirmed it is crippling the upload speeds on its two 4G phones, the Motorola Atrix and HTC Inspire. We also found slow upload speeds on the Shockwave 4G USB modem, although that may
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AT&T has reached a new low by delivering 4G devices that are actually slower than the carriers own 3G devices. Yes, you read it correctly: For AT&T, 4G is a step backward.
be a network rather than a device-based issue. Meanwhile, we got considerably faster speeds than the Atrix and Inspire on the Apple iPhone 4 and Dell Venue, both of which are supposedly 3G. We arent seeing much faster download speeds on the 4G devices, either. Why is AT&T doing this? Im not sure. It could be that the network cant handle the strain. It could be that all of the devices have some horrible bug in the upload firmware. AT&T isnt saying. Supposedly, the 4G phones will be upgraded to actually support 4G speeds in the future. Thats great, but they shouldnt have been advertised as 4G until they did. The carrier puts all sorts of stupid little fine print in its ads, trying to legally indemnify itself against the fact that its current 4G claim is totally worthless. But that doesnt balance out the fact that these phones are being advertised with 4G in the name, and if you stand in the same place with a 4G phone and a 3G phone on the same network, the 3G phone will be faster. This is especially a pity because AT&T was doing a good job repairing the rips the iPhone caused in its 3G network. AT&T admitted it had a problem, faced up to it, and worked hard to fix it. Yes, the work came too lateAT&T should have prepared properly for the iPhone rather than fixing things after the factbut for a while, there had been some clear honesty coming out of the carrier about what it needed to do to make things right. AT&Ts lies debase the concept of 4G in general, but maybe thats the point. AT&T has the fastest 3G network, as we showed in our 18-city tests last year. But Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile are all significantly ahead of AT&T on delivering 4G or 4G-ish devices. Since its behind, AT&Ts tactic seems to ruin the entire idea of 4G so as to cloud the picture. Itll be interesting to see whether the company has to Sbackpedal, or repair customers confused perceptions when it actually gets a network thats up to speed. Im pretty hopeless about there being a remedy for this. Sure, there are Internet petitions and potential class action lawsuits going around, but 4G at this point is such a meaningless term that I cant see them having much success. The HTC Inspire and Motorola Atrix are still two of the best phones on AT&T, and I still recommend them. But are they 4G? Not for now.
STAY PHONE-SMART Keep up with the latest on smartphones by reading Saschas column at go.pcmag.com/segan.
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DAN COSTA
Android Fragmentation: FUD and Facts

ow do you create an open platform that can be used by dozens of hardware vendors and hundreds of software developers without some fragmentation? You dont. Yet to hear all the complaints about Android fragmentation, you would think that Google must either lock down its OS like Apple does with its iOS or try to run it as a Linux-like free-software collective. The former certainly works for Apple, but it doesnt really play to Googles strengths. The latter is pure folly. Instead, Google is trying to walk a middle road here, and, whatever the pitfalls, it seems to be doing a pretty good job so far. Android has 33 percent of the U.S. smartphone market share; not bad for a fragmented OS. Android fragmentation has been an issue since the platform launched, but it became newsworthy again this week because of a report from Robert W. Baird & Co. In a survey of 250 Android developers, 55 percent of Android developers found OS fragmentation to be a meaningful or huge problem.
For developers, multiple screen resolutions, hardware configurations, and OS versions must be a pain. At the very least, they present a challenge. About the same time, reports started drifting out about how Google would be cracking down on fragmentation and taking a tighter grip on its OS. Bloomberg published an article provocatively titled Do Not Anger the Alpha Android, which announced that Google had sent new marching orders to its ecosystem partners, summarized thus: There will be no more willy-nilly tweaks to the software. No more partnerships formed outside of Googles purview. From now on, companies hoping to receive early access to Googles most up-to-date software will need approval of their plans. And they will seek that approval from Andy Rubin, the head of Googles Android group. Of course, none of the dozens of sources for this story allowed their names to be used. Talking to the press could get your app booted from the Android Market, right?
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consumers are enjoying an amazing number of hardware devices and applications, on a platform that, whatever its compatibility requirements, is the most mobile oS on the market.
Because the platform is so locked down and tightly controlled? The closed/fragmented confusion got bad enough that the aforementioned Andy Rubin felt the need to clear the air. In a post on the Android developer blog, he tried to allay fragmentation fears and assure partners that Android will remain open. As should be clear by now, there is a tension between these two messages, but not necessarily a contradiction. As Rubin put it: As always, device makers are free to modify Android to customize any range of features for Android devices. This enables device makers to support the unique and differentiating functionality of their products. If someone wishes to market a device as Android-compatible or include Google applications on the device, we do require the device to conform with some basic compatibility requirements. The reasonableness of this statement depends on the specific modifications, the nature of the additional functionality, and, of course, the fine print of those basic compatibility requirements. All of these things can and will be debated. Software developers say the platform is too fragmented, hardware vendors say Google is wielding too much control, but what gets overlooked is the interest of the consumer. What has fragmentation meant for them? They have been enjoying an amazing number of hardware devices and applications, on a platform that, whatever its compatibility requirements, is the most open mobile OS on the market. All of this FUD about fragmentation may be solved when Honeycomb is finally released. Honeycomb will come with tools designed to address fragmentation that will broaden compatibility. Apps written for Android dating back to v1.6 will be supported. It will also run on both tablets and smartphones; getting it to run right on the latter is allegedly what is taking so long. Whatever the benefits of Honeycomb, the bottom line is that Android is neither completely open nor totally closed. There is no getting around the fact that Android is Googles platform. Every other vendor and carrier is at best second tier, and most of this posturing is by vendors worried about falling into the third or fourth tier. That might be bad for them, but it isnt really an issue for consumers to worry about. For them the Android ecosystem should be free from fear, uncertainty or doubt.
TALK bAcK To DAn E-mail your thoughts to dan_costa@pcmag.com.
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stay connected:
mobile guide 2011

ack in the Dark Agessay, about the late 1990sgoing online meant attaching our gargantuan desktops to a loud and clunky analog modem. These days, we get impatient if we lose connectivity for even a second, while at Starbucks, driving in the country, riding on a train, or sitting on the beach. Were always on the go, and we fully expect to stay connected every step of the way. Cell phone use has become near ubiquitous in recent years, with only 4 percent of Americans ages 18 to 29 without a mobile device, according to a recent report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The report was the result of a survey of 3,001 American adults on their use of gadgets.
No matter where we are these daysin the heart of a city or on a remote islandwe want and expect to stay connected. These mobile products will help you do that, anytime, anywhere.
About 85 percent of all adults now own a cell phone, Pew found, and even 58 percent of senior citizens now have a cell phone. Laptop ownership has also jumped dramaticallyfrom 30 percent in April 2006 to 52 percent in September 2010. Desktop ownership, meanwhile, is down from 68 percent to 59 percent in the last four years. Chances are, if youre reading this, you already live the mobile life and own a heap of mobile devices. But if its time to upgrade, here are our top picks for laptops and touch-screen phones on the market today, as well as the best Bluetooth headsets and cellular modems, which will keep your devices connected to your cellular network. Chloe Albanesius and Stephanie Chang
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LaPtoPs
hopping for a laptop these days is a pretty daunting task. The sheer number of laptops available online or in a store's electronics section is enough to make your mind spin. Most people have a general idea of what their laptop should look like and what they want in terms of features, but are often intimidated by the choices available. That's where we come in. The editors of PCMag.com test hundreds of systems each year to help you find the best laptop. There are a lot of laptops out there, from the large-screen desktop replacements to the lightweight ultraportables, and even netbooks, but all share common features. Here are the top 10 laptops on the market today. Laarni Almendrala Ragaza
HP Pavilion dv6-6013cl
$649.99 list, at Costco In terms of looks, features, and cost, the HP Pavilion dv66013cl was already a great laptop, but the addition of a second-generation Intel processor and dramatically improved graphics and gaming capability make it a winner.
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dell XPs 15 (sandy Bridge)

$1,785 direct With a Sandy Bridge quad-core processor and excellent battery life, the Dell XPS 15 (Sandy Bridge) is arguably the most complete desktop replacement laptop, even if it isn't the fastest or the prettiest.
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Lenovo thinkPad X220

$1,299 direct The Lenovo ThinkPad X220 business ultraportable is an amazing piece of engineering when you factor in all the features it squeezed into a 12-inch frame, including best-inclass battery life and the new Intel Core i5 i5-2520M CPU.
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apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (thunderbolt)

$2,199 direct The Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Thunderbolt) is the fastest, most technologically advanced laptop to grace our Labs benches, thanks to new Intel architecture, a renewed romance with AMD graphics chips, and a connection technology called Thunderbolt.
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mobile guide
asus U41JF-a1
$857 street The Asus U41JF-A1 is the most well-balanced mainstream laptop, combining excellent power with all-day battery life.
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HP Pavilion dm1z
$449 direct The HP Pavilion dm1z and its AMD Fusion APU offer the best of both worlds: faster-than-Atom speeds and great battery life.
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sony VaIo VPc-Z1390X

$3,800 direct The Sony VAIO VPC-Z1390X is, hands down, the lightest and most powerful ultraportable money can buy.
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toshiba Portege R705-P35
$899.99 list The Toshiba Portege R705-P35 is a more practical alternative to the Sony VAIO Z, bundling a 13-inch widescreen, optical drive, and a standard volt processor.
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acer aspire as5745-7247

$600 street The Acer Aspire AS5745-7247 is one sweet laptop deal, putting in parts and features you don't normally get at these prices.
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asus U45Jc-a1
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$867 street The U45Jc-A1 is powerful and battery-efficient enough to work through an entire day and look good while doing it.
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mobile guide
TOUCH-SCREEN PHONES
t was touch-and-go for a time, but the touch-screen interface has finally become mainstream. In the past, it was relatively tough to round up 10 good touch-screen products. These days, high-quality touch-screen interfaces have made their way into PCs, tablets, phones, PMPs, digital cameras, and a host of other devices. The introduction of the original iPhone back in 2007 sparked a touch-screen revolution in the smartphone space. With its gorgeous 3.5-inch Multi-Touch screen with support for pinch and zoom, well-designed, finger-friendly interface, and top-notch mobile Web experience, the iPhone served as a prime example of the potential of the keyboard-free phone. After that, every major manufacturer took its own stab at the touch-screen smartphone. Some succeeded, and some, well, not so much. RIM's first touch-screen handset, the BlackBerry Storm, for example, was panned in our original review for a buggy, imprecise touch interface that was difficult to use. It took a major firmware upgrade six months later for us to recommend the Storm. Four years later, though, there's no shortage of innovative, easy-to-use touchscreen smartphones. In fact, each of the major U.S. carriers offers a number of handsets that ace the touch-screen interface. If you're looking for a phone with a touch screen and you're willing to say farewell to the physical keyboard for good, look no further than our 10 favorite touch-screen phones.Wendy Sheehan Donnell
at&t apple iPhone 4

Apple's iPhone 4 adds a gorgeous screen, a terrific camera, and a faster processor to add to the already-awesome iPhone app experience, but voice calling still isn't this phone's priority.
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Htc Inspire 4G
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The HTC Inspire 4G, AT&T's premiere Android phone (at least for now) can hold its own against the iPhone 4 and other top smartphones.
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mobile guide
Motorola atrix 4G
Motorola's Atrix 4G, the unique bleeding-edge superphone that can transform itself into a PC, shows how we'll likely be using our mobile devices in the year 2020. But to get a taste of the future, you'll have to pay, and deal with some bugs along the way.
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sPRInt Htc eVo 4G
If you live online, the EVO offers a big, beautiful, and powerful window to the world. The first WiMAX phone in the U.S. is a terrific platform for streaming media and Web browsing, and it gets your laptop online with Sprint's 4G network.
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LG optimus s
The Optimus S is the best budget Android phone we've seen, a well-tuned, feature-packed touch-screen slab with all of the functionality most consumers and small business users need.
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t-MoBILe t-Mobile mytouch 4G
The T-Mobile myTouch 4G combines a classy body with a big, beautiful touch screen and the latest software to offer the most you can get from Android today.
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samsung Galaxy s 4G
The Samsung Galaxy S 4G, with its faster data connection, refreshed styling, and Android 2.2 OS, is a stellar performer that doubles as a great laptop modem.
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VeRIZon WIReLess Htc thunderbolt
The HTC Thunderbolt, the first 4G LTE smartphone for Verizon Wireless, has the fastest Web speeds we've ever seen, but be prepared to carry an extra battery.
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Motorola droid X
Motorola Droid X takes the crown for the most powerful Android smartphone away from the HTC Droid Incredible. The huge 4.3-inch, 854-by-480 screen makes maneuvering the phone's excellent interface with your finger a breeze.
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VeRIZon WIReLess apple iPhone 4
Our lab tests show that Verizon's iPhone 4 is just as good as the popular AT&T model, if not slightly better. If you've been lusting for an iPhone, but AT&T's network coverage doesn't work for you, the Verizon iPhone will be your savior. But if you didn't want an iPhone before, there's nothing new here to change your mind.
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mobile guide
ceLLULaR ModeMs
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t's an exciting time to get Internet on the go. Less-expensive 3G service plans and new 4G networks are making wireless cellular modems faster and more affordable than ever. In many cases, you don't even need to sign a contract. Wireless modems aren't just for PCs any more, either. Many connections will work other gadgets too, like your iPod Touch or iPad. Depending on your hardware, plan, and usage, you'll pay anywhere from $20 to $60 a month for nationwide connectivity at speeds of up to 6Mbps, which is as fast as some cable connections. Here are our favorite cell modems.Sascha Segan
sPRInt sierra Wireless aircard 250U

The Sierra Wireless 250U is the best way to get an individual Mac or PC onto Sprint's 3G and 4G networks. It has a flexible swiveling form factor, and it delivers a good signal and speeds.
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VeRIZon WIReLess Pantech UML290

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The Pantech UML290 is the speediest mobile Internet device in the U.S. right now, and the best modem Verizon offers. It's sturdy, and is also Mac compatible.
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Xcom Global International MiFi Hotspot

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XCom Global's MiFi solution is the absolute best way for business travelers to stay connected while abroad. It offers unlimited Internet almost everywhere in 44 countries; it's much less expensive than roaming with your mobile phone.
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at&t UsBconnect shockwave 4G

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The AT&T USBConnect Shockwave 4G is the speediest, easiest way to connect a PC or Mac to AT&T's HSPA+ network, even if it doesn't bring any major improvements to the table.
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BLUetootH Headsets
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$99.99
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s smartphones explode in popularity, so do the accessories that complement these mobile multitasking devices, and the most important companion for your phone is undoubtedly the hands-free Bluetooth headset. The good news is that they're better than ever with vastly improved designs, stronger performance, and more compelling features than you'd find even a couple of years ago. And Bluetooth headsets are more necessary than ever as more and more states are banning handheld cell phones in cars. Generally, Bluetooth headsets fall into one of three categories. There are the traditional, mono, single-ear headsets; stereo headsets, which use both of your ears for a surround-sound experience for calls and music; and speakerphones, which don't connect to your ear, but instead project voices so you can hear without an ear to your phone. Here are our three favorite mono headsets. David Pierce
Plantronics Voyager Pro+
The Voyager Pro+ is a great-sounding Bluetooth headset that's very comfortable to wear for extended periods; aside from being large, it has no major flaws.
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aliph Jawbone era

$129
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The Aliph Jawbone Era is more than a headset: it's a potential audio computing platform.
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aliph Jawbone Icon

$99
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Aliph does it again with the Jawbone Icon, a svelte, refined Bluetooth headset that looks great, sounds great, and is uniquely extensible.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE
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Solutions
How to Spring Clean Your PC
By Eric Griffith
ts that time of year, when you feel a desperate need to clean your home before the sun starts to pour endlessly through the window, exposing just what little
CLEANING HArDWArE
housework youve done. As you prepare to tackle the floors, windows, and everything else youve neglected, you should seriously consider giving your PC, be it desktop or laptop or even handheld smartphone, a thorough cleaning as well. There are two aspects to thoroughly clean your PC: Theres the physical cleaning (manually cleaning actual gunk out of your computer) and the digital cleaning (using tools to get the Windows operating system back in fighting shape after gaining all that holiday weight). We have tips for both.
Input Devices Start off by cleaning the devices you touch the most. Three years ago, news reports cropped up stating keyboards are up to five times as germ-laden as the office toilets you share with others; tests even found E. coli on keyboards. Chances are you still eat lunch hunched over those keys, so nows the time to clean up. First, disconnect the keyboard (wired or wireless) after you shut down your desktop PC. Turn it upside and shake it to get the obvious stuff outthe typical crumbs and dog and cat hair. This is a good time to hit it with some canned air to knock lose any debris you can. Next, make a pass with the vacuum, using a brush nozzle to work in between the keys. Even with this, you probably wont get rid of all the crud, so take the swabs dipped into a little alcohol (not dripping isopropyl) and work them in between keys to get the truly baked-on badness.
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TOOLBOx To give your devices a thorough cleaning, use this arsenal of tools: You can do the same with a laptop, just turn it off and remove the battery before you start sticking swabs between the keys, assuming you can even get into the tight spaces. This is a particularly nice time to crack out the plastic tub of CyberClean. This goo flows like the Slime and Gak you played with as a kid, but isnt very wet. In fact, the whole point of it is to smoosh it into the keyboard and let it collect up as much crud as possible. It wont last forever, but youll get a few months out of it for quick spot-cleaning, if nothing else. Mice are much easier to clean than the old days when they had balls inside (and if you do have a ball insidetake it out, rinse it with warm water and dry it thoroughly... then go buy a new mouse with optics). You do still need to wipe the mouses feet on Canned air (sometimes called a gas duster) Cotton swaps and a bottle of 70percent Isopropyl alcohol A computer vacuum like the Metro Vacuum/Blower The yellowish goop called CyberClean (as seen on TV!) LCD screen cleaner on pre-moistened cloths, a spray cleaner like Audiovox Surface, or make your own: a 50/50 mix of distilled water and white vinegar poured into a misting bottle Electrostatic dusting cloths (like Swiffer Duster) A small bottle of mechanical oil lubricant like 3-in-1 Oil, even WD-40 A small screwdriver, maybe with a bendable neck and ratcheting head
CCLEANEr This free app will remove all the temporary files you havent used in months.
Keep in mind, when theres liquid involved, never spray anything directly at or on a computer screen or peripheral.
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sOLuTIONs PC MAINTENANCE
DrOPBOx Sync files with other computers or store files online with this handy tool.
the bottom; theyre running over the desk or mouse pad surface all day, picking up microscopic nasties you dont even want to think about.
Desktop Chassis
The greatest enemy of the chips inside your computer is heatthe heat that those chips themselves generate. When it gets dusty inside your chassis, the dust acts like insulation, trapping all that new hotness. It also clogs the fans that are supposed to be running to keep things cool. An increase of just a few degrees can make the hard drive inside your machine work 10 times harder. Computers work best when cool, so you must remember to dust, especially if youre a pet owner or smoker. Take the side off the desktop case and use the canned air to get rid of all dust you can. Then blow the fans clean (dont miss
the one on your graphics card). This will put a lot of dust in the air, so you should have a vacuum nearby to catch some of it before it resettles inside. You can also wipe down the plastic blades of the fans with an anti-static cloth to spare yourself the dust tornado. Once all the vents are clear, get that lubricant and put just a drop at the center of the fans on the back, to keep them moving smoothly. You might have to pull out a rubber plug or peel back a sticker to get to the center. Once youre done, do yourself the favor of making sure all the cables are seated snuggly for your hard drives, optical drives, etc. Then youre ready to set it back up and get back to work.
LCD screens
Its very easy to get streaks on your screens from just a couple of finger swipes. LCD
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wipes or a soft dust-free cloth sprayed with your homemade solution of distilled water and white vinegar can clean that up in a jiffy. First, use the canned air to get rid of the bigger bits of dust. Then rub the moistened cloth or wipe the screen in circular motions. This goes not just for your monitor, but your LCD TV as well. Audiovox Surface is a favorite that comes in both a 200ml spray bottle with a microfiber cloth for $20 or in wet/dry screen wipe packages, just like the wipes you get at the BBQ place up the road a spell. Search Amazon and youll find a wide variety of Surfacebranded cleaning tools for your digital gear.
Mobile Phones
sOfTWArE uPDATE MONITOr LITE This will make check your PC for software updates.
CLEANING sOfTWArE
Dont forget about your mobile phone, with all of its face grease and germs. Although the latest generation of phones have actual glass front screens, you still shouldnt wipe them with a window cleaner. Even Apple says iPhones and iPads should be cleaned with a lint-free cloth dabbed with a bit of 70-percent isopropyl. Again, dont spray such things directly on a phonethere are microphone and speaker holes you dont want to saturate. CyberClean can come in handy here as well, getting into nooks you would otherwise miss. And dont neglect your case, if you have one. If there are particles stuck inside the hard plastic shell, sliding it on and off a phone will cause scratches. Make sure to wipe down the inside of whatever protects your phone when you remove that outer skin.
Youve shaken the cobwebs from your computer, now its time to consider going even deeper inside, by cleaning the operating system. Some of these tips arent so much cleaning as straightening up, but they all lead to the same result: a faster-performing PC. Remember, before you do any of these tasks, run a full backup on your important data: documents, photos, music, videos, etc. You dont want to throw out a treasured memory just because youre cleaning up. You can use DropBox to sync files with other computers or an online backup service to store files online.
Get rid of the Crap
The company Piriform provides many free tools to help your PC, and none is more important for spring (or anytime) cleanup than CCleaner. That extra C stands for exactly what you think it does, because the software goes into the Windows OS and
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sOLuTIONs PC MAINTENANCE
sMArT DEfrAG 2 This app will even defrag the boottime area of your hard drive.
pulls out all sorts of useless crapola. The amount of temporary files generated by Web browsers and more can grow astronomically if unchecked. CCleaner, run every once and a while, performs that check. Dont be surprised to gain back several megabytes of space when you run it.
Disk Defrag
a free third party tool like Smart Defrag 2, which is now has a brand new interface. It will even defrag the boot-time area of your hard drive to make Windows start up faster.
Delete the unneeded
A hard drive isnt like an old phonograph record with one long groove. The head jumps around on the platter inside, writing data willy-nilly wherever it can. However, the closer the data is to similar data, the better the drive performs. Moving data around to improve speed is called a defrag. You may have Windows 7 taking care of this for you in the background regularly. If you dont, or maybe even if you do, you can try
You may be the type to install new software whenever it catches your fancy. But most software doesnt have that much staying power. You should take this time to be ruthless with uninstalling any software youre not using on a regular basis. Revo Uninstaller is one of our favorites for handling program deletion, because it goes farther than the standard installers that come with programs, by checking the registry for extra items that should also be trashed. If you want to clean away all those extra fileseven duplicate files of your own data,
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rEvO uNIsTALLEr It goes the extra mile by checking the registry for unwanted items.
perhaps from restoring a backup one too many timestry DoubleKiller. It checks file names, file sizes, file dates, even whats inside a file to see if theres a few doppelgangers. Then it helps you get rid of them. If youre the type who doesnt do frequent software updates, now is the time. Start with your operating system by running Windows Update. Windows 7 users should be using Service Pack 1 by now, for instance. Perhaps most important, make sure your anti-malware software is using the latest definitions. This should be automatic with most programs, but check that youve got a live account; companies like Symantec require yearly subscriptions to get the latest definitions. Chances are youve been nagged about it by the software if you let it lapse. If youre behind, update it or uninstall
it and try a new malware tool from among the Best Antivirus Software in 2011. But dont stop there. Make sure the software you use, everything from browsers to e-mail to utilities, are running the latest versions. Old software can have vulnerabilities; developers are always finding holes that need to be filled. (Software today is never really finishedwere all perennial beta testers.) If you use Apple-based software on your Windows system, such as Safari or iTunes, run the Apple Software Update utility occasionally to automatically get new versions. You can check sites like FileHippo. com, which offers a Free Update Checker utility, for the latest, even beta, versions. Others software updaters include KC Softwares Software Update Monitor Lite, and Secunias Personal Software Inspector.
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sOLuTIONs TABLETs
iPad 2 Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts

If youve seen an Apple commercial, you have an idea of the latest iPad can do, but the latest version of iOs holds some hidden gemsweve uncovered 20 of them. By Wendy Sheehan Donnell
hile some might argue that it can almost replace a full-fledged computer, the iPad was designed to be simple. Even if you have very little tech savvy, you can probably pick up Apples latest tablet and master the basic features in a matter of minutes. And the longer you spend swiping your way around the touch-based iOS, the more youll learn. As it is with any operating system, though, there are just some things that arent obvious. You could (gasp!) pore through the 22-chapter iPad 2 User Guide (it has three appendices too), to make sure youre not missing anything, but wheres the fun in that? After almost a month of testing and using the iPad 2, weve learned some cool tricks and we want to share. Here youll find general tips that apply to multiple applications, along with those specific to Safari, Maps, iPod, and Photos. Whether youre a sea-
soned Mac or iOS user, or even an Apple newbie, theres something here for you.
Reveal Hidden Keyboard Characters Theres more than meets the eye with the iPads on-screen keyboard. Holding down certain keys provides additional character options. A long tap on the Comma key, for example, brings an apostrophe. Right next door, the Period key offers up a quote mark too. On the numeric keyboard, shown here, the Quote Mark key hides smart quotes,
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and other symbols if you hold it down for a second. Oh, and if you didnt know, hitting the space bar twice inserts a period. Launch Your Apps in a Flash If you just got your iPad, you probably dont have too many apps to handle yet, but believe us, you will. (Right now, the app store offers more than 65,000 tabletspecific apps, and more are added every day!) Once you start stocking up, youll have folder upon folder and page upon page, and itll get harder to find what youre looking for quickly. Theres an easy fix for that. From the Home Screen, swipe left and youll get the Search screen, where you can quickly type the name of the app you want to launchand predictive typing makes things even faster. Search will not only surface your apps (first), but your media, e-mail messages, calendar events, and more. Customize your searches at Settings>General >Spotlight Search. Grab that screen! To capture whatever is on your iPads screen
as a photo, hold the Power button, and hit the Home button. Youll see the display flash and hear a shutter click, and the image will appear in the Camera Roll in Photos. From there, press the Arrow icon in the top right corner to e-mail, print, or copy the image, use it as wallpaper, or assign it to one of your contacts.
An Easy save for E-Mail Photo Attachments If you get a picture with an e-mail message, tap on it, and youll get a pop-up menu that
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gives you the option to Copy or Save Image. Select the latter, and the image will be saved to your Camera Roll. The former lets you paste the image into another application.
Dont Blow Money on Data Roaming Everyone has heard a horror story of some poor guy racking up thousands of dollars in data charges after forgetting to turn off his cell phone on an overseas trip. If you have a 3G-enabled iPad, there are two ways to disable your cell radio so you dont get charged for data use. Go to Settings>Cellular Data, and disable it, along with Data Roaming. Or simply put your iPad in Airplane Mode, and turn on Wi-Fi (both options are at the top level of the Settings Menu) when youre in your hotel or you find a hotspot. For the duration of your trip you can keep your iPad powered up and ready to use the iPod for tunes or videos, play games, or anything else that doesnt require a data connection. Keep a Low Location Profile The good thing about an iPad with integrated GPS and Wi-Fi is that there are tons of apps that can serve up location-based information. But it requires that the apps to know where you are, and lets be honest, for some, it can be a little too "1984". In Settings>Location Services, you can select
the apps that you want to allow access to your location. Or if youre looking to go fullon incognito, turn location services off altogether here.
Maximize Your Maps Experience On the flip side of the argument, the best thing about GPS on your iPad is the native Google-powered Maps app which can help you find your way to a nearby coffee shop or, well, just about anything around you. Whats not completely obvious when youre viewing the map, though, is that theres a turned-up bottom right corner. If you pull
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it back, youll find options for Map views (Classic, Satellite, Hybrid, or Terrain) and traffic overlays. (Yes, Google can show you if youre headed toward a traffic jam.)
disables the iPads accelerometer. Go to Settings>General and under Use Side Switch To: choose either Lock Rotation or Mute. Put a Pin in It Another cool map feature: Pins! Hold down a finger on any point to drop a pin on the map. Youll get a pop-up: The orange icon on the left shows the street view at the point youve selected, and the blue icon on the right brings up a dialog that offers directions to or from that point, among other options including sharing that location via e-mail. Customize the side switch The iPads clean design and almost touchexclusive interface is one of its best features. To say that hardware controls are minimal is overstating it. You only get three: the Home button below the screen, Volume Up and Down buttons on the top right panel, and a customizable switch right above. That switch can either act as a mute control or a screen orientation lock, which basically
View and Kill Running Apps Multitasking is a welcome addition to iOS, but once you open an app, it stays open, unless you manually close it. Two quick hits of the Home button can show you the apps you have running, and depending on how many there are, you might need to swipe to the right a couple of times to see them
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all. Press and hold on one icon, and theyll all start shaking (like when you move icons around on your Home screen), tap on the small, red minus sign in the top left corner of its icon, to kill that app.
10,000-song music library on your iPad without storing it locally. Bonus: You can share among iPhones and iOS-based iPods too that are on the same network.
summon Instant iPod Controls If you swipe left, rather than right, after you tap the Home button twice, youll get video/music play controls, and volume and screen-brightness sliders. Depending upon whether youve assigned the lock rotation or the muting function to the side hardware switch, youll get the other option in the left corner. The shot above shows the Screen Orientation lock. Dont Move All of Your Media, share Instead If you enable Home Sharing in Settings>iPod>Home Sharing on your iPad, and on your computer (Advanced>Turn on Home Sharing in iTunes 10.2 or later), you can share media (music, video, and podcasts) when youre on the same Wi-Fi network. This way you can listen to your surf safe in safari In the course of clicking around the Web, you can encounter thousands of text links, but which ones are legit? Hold your finger on any link, and youll get a dialog box that lets you open or copy the link, while showing you its full URL. Dont Want to Get Your Google On? A fairly recent addition to iOS: The free-
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dom to switch up your search engine. O p t f o r B i n g o r Ya h o o i n s t e a d i n Settings>Safari>Search Engine.
an icon you can put right on your Home screen. Just navigate to that page and to the immediate left of the address bar, youll see an arrow icon, press it, and youll get a dropdown with the option to Add to Home Screen. You can even rename the icon whatever you want, and youll have one-click access to that page right from the Home screen. Volumize Your Web Videos Despite the lack of Flash support in the mobile version of Safari, theres plenty of Web video you can watch on your iPad. If you want to increase the size of a video window inside a Web page, tap twice on the video window and it will grow to full-screen size. Pinch the window to return it to its original size and to once again view the surrounding Web page. No App? No Problem. Add an Icon Many major Web sites now have dedicated iPad apps, but not all do. Have a favorite page you want quick access to? Go one better than a Safari bookmark, create unlock Your iPads Potential as a Picture Frame Youve got scores of digital photos, and the iPad has a sharp 9.7-inch screen. If you have a Smart Cover or another case that props up your iPad, then youve got an excellent digital photo frame. Picture Frame mode (Settings>Picture Frame) lets you choose which images and select transitions and other options for slideshows. Whats not obvious, though, is that you need to turn the feature on first, and you can do that in Settings>General>Passcode Lock>Picture Frame. Once you do, the iPads Lock screen will show a small flower icon in the bottom
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right corner, tap it (without having to slide to unlock your iPad) to start your slideshow.
in the same Passcode Lock menu you can set the iPad to erase all of its data after 10 failed passcode attempts. Its important to sync your iPad regularly, though, so important data is backed up in iTunes on your computer.
While Youre There, Protect Your Data In the same Settings menu you can assign a Passcode for your iPad. After all, the tablet is meant to be mobile, so its potential to get lost or left behind is high. And without a passcode, anyone can unlock the screen and have full access to your e-mail, Web history, apps, and more. To set a 4-digit code that needs to be entered to unlock the iPad, choose General>Passcode Lock>Simple Passcode. Better yet: Unselect Simple Passcode to set a code that uses the full keyboard.
Even Better, Demolish That Data To ensure that your data doesnt wind up in the wrong hands even if your iPad does,
Finally, Find Your iPad for Free! Possibly the most valuable app you can download, Find my iPhone (it works for iPads too), once required a paid MobileMe subscription, but now all you need is an Apple ID. Download it for free in the App Store, follow the set-up instructions, and you can view your iPad on a map from your computer or cell phone. Theres a better chance of locating a 3G-enabled iPad since it integrates alwayson Assisted GPS, but Wi-Fi-only iPads can also be viewed when theyre connected to a registered Wi-Fi network. Still, you can also use the app to remotely display a message, play a tone, set a passcode, lock the device, or wipe its dataall things that can help you figure out where your missing iPad is hiding out.
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THIS PCMaG.COM rEvIEW rEPrINTED COurTESy OF SOS ONLINE BaCkuP
SOS Online Backup Home Edition 4.7.4

$9.95 per month for up to five PCs
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PROS One account covers multiple PCs. Can back up external and network drive. Good iPhone app. Share files via link. Wizard helps choose what to back up. Search backup set. Local backup app included. All files archived, never deleted. CONS No Mac or Linux version. Some issues with 64-bit Windows and network drives.
SOS Online Backup Home Edition 4.7.4
Personal Backup Champ

SOS Online Backup has been a favorite of ours for years, and the company continues to improve its online backup service. We like its abundance of useful features and its clear, friendly interface, and its new pricing plan is a plus, too: $9.95 a month for five PCs and up to 50GB of data. This looks good even compared with all-you-caneat services like Carbonite, which charges $4.95 a month for just one PC. The wizard interface of SOS hasnt changed much, but theres an added So Simple system scan for commonly desirable backup filesoffice documents, images, music, and video. Or there are several other ways you can choose which specific files you want to back up. For critical files, you can enable SOSs Live Protect feature, which will watch the file and immediately send update information to the backup servers. I only wish you could designate folders as well as files for live protection. The default scheduling option is once daily in the wee hours. But you can increase this to hourly. Of course, only file changes will be uploaded, so only the first upload will require an enormous data transfer. Performance-wise, SOS Online Backup did well; it never noticeably slowed down my PC. Processing and uploading a 100MB batch of mixed test files took 22 minutes, similar to the times of MozyHome 2.0, IDrive, Carbonite, and Norton Online Backup. With its reasonable price, Live Protect, versioning, and many more unique capabilities, SOS Online Backup Home Edition remains our Editors Choice for personal online backup. But if you dont think 50GB is enough to cover all your home PCs, you may be happier with a competitor like Mozy or Carbonite.Michael Muchmore
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Editors Choices in Key Categories

For the complete reviews of these products and more Editors Choices check out go.pcmag.com/editorschoice
Editor
DEskTOP rEPLACEMENT PHOTO PrINTEr
DEskTOPs
MAINsTrEAM
Velocity Micro Vector Holiday Edition $999 list

BuDGET/VALuE
Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Thunderbolt) $2,199 direct

NETBOOk
Epson stylus Photo r3000 $849.99 direct

ALL-IN-ONE
samsung NF310-A01 $400 street

BusINEss
HP Photosmart estation
$399 direct
NEW
$749.99 list
ENTry-LEVEL
Dell Latitude E5510 $884 direct Lenovo ThinkPad X220

$1,299 direct
BuDGET
NEW
kodak EsP C310 All-in-One Printer $99.99 direct PrOJECTOrs
Dell Inspiron i580-8139NBC

$499.98 list
GAMING/MuLTIMEDIA
HP Pavilion dv6-6013cl
Maingear F131 super stock

$2,300 direct
NEW
$649.99 list
TABLET
Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8350 $1,299 direct

NEW
Digital storm Black Ops Enix Edition $3,267 direct

Asus All-in-One PC ET2400IGTs-B008E $1,299.99 list
Apple iPad 2 (Wi-Fi + 3G) 64GB

$699 direct
Optoma TW610sT $1,000 street
sCANNErs Canon Canoscan LiDE110 Color Image scanner $59.99 direct

DOCuMENT sCANNEr
NEW
ALL-IN-ONE
NEW
sTOrAGE
POrTABLE
Lenovo ThinkPad usB Portable secure Drive $319 list

DEskTOP
Visioneer Mobility
HP Omni 100 $559.99 list

BusINEss
$199.99 direct
HP Compaq 4000 Pro

$549 direct
COMPACT DEskTOP
Western Digital MyBook studio Edition II $430 list

NETWOrk-ATTACHED sTOrAGE
NEW
Dell Inspiron Zino HD (Inspiron 410) $849.99 direct

NETTOP
synology Diskstation Ds1511+ NAs $900 list LCD MONITOrs

NEW
NETWOrkING Western Digital My Passport Essential sE

$159.99 list
Lenovo IdeaCentre Q150

$399 direct
Viewsonic VX2258wm $339 NEC Multisync PA301W Dell ultrasharp u3011 PrINTErs
Netgear N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit router (WNDr3700) $170 street Cisco Network Magic Pro 5.5
$39.99 direct
street
NEW
LAPTOPs & NETBOOks

MAINsTrEAM
$2299 list
NEW
HDTVs
PLAsMA
Asus u41JF-A1 $857 street

CONsuMEr uLTrA-LOW VOLTAGE
$1,499 direct
samsung PN58C8000
$2,999.99 list
LCD
HP Pavilion dm3t $625 direct

uLTrAPOrTABLE
MONOCHrOME LAsEr
NEW
Brother HL-2270DW $150
Toshiba Portege r705-P35

$899.99 list
GAMING
street
COLOr LAsEr
Bose VideoWave Entertainment system $5,349 list

LED
Toshiba Portege r705-P35

$899.99 list
MuLTIMEDIA
Dell 2150cdn $399.99 direct Xerox Phaser 7500/DN

3,299.99 direct
sTANDArD INkJET
Mitsubishi unisen LT-55265

$3,199.99 list
BLu-rAy PLAyErs samsung BD-C6500

$249.99 list
Dell studio 17 (Multitouch)

$1,411 direct
Epson stylus NX625

$149 direct
WorldMags
s
DIGITAL CAMErAs
COMPACT
GAMING sony Playstation 3 120GB (Ps3 slim) $299.99 direct

NEW
Microsoft Office for Mac 2011

$119 list
Canon Powershot s95

$399.99 direct
Office 2010 Professional

$499 direct
kodak Easyshare M580

$199.95 direct
D-sLr
Nintendo 3Ds $249.99 list
GPs DEVICEs Garmin nvi 2350LMT

$229.99 list
iWork for iPad $9.99 direct FreshBooks Free Basecamp Free

TurboTax Premier Online (Tax year 2010) $49.95 direct
Nikon D300 $1,800 street Canon EOs rebel T1i

$899.99 list
suPErZOOM
E-BOOk rEADErs
Barnes & Noble Nook Color $249 direct
sony Cyber-shot DsC-HX5V

$349.99 direct
DyMO stamps and DyMO Printable Postage Free IPHONE/IPAD APPs Zite (for iPad) free NEW Goodreader for iPad
NEW
Amazon kindle (3G+WiFi)

$189 direct
DIGITAL VIDEO CAMErAs sony Bloggie Touch 8GB (MHsTs20/s) $199.99 direct sony HDr-sr11 $1,099.99 direct DIGITAL PHOTO & VIDEO
VIDEO-EDITING sOFTWArE
HEADPHONEs Bowers & Wilkins P5 Mobile Hi-Fi Headphones $299.95 list

BLuETOOTH HEADsETs
$5 direct
Air sharing $6.99 direct Photogene $2.99 direct Evernote Premium Free MuLTIMEDIA Adobe Acrobat X from $199 list Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 $99.99 list CyberLink PowerDirector 9
$99.95 list
Aliph Jawbone Era $129 direct

NEW
samsung Modus HM6450 CELL PHONEs
CyberLink DVD suite 7 ultra

$129.95 direct
PHOTO EDITING
$52 street
Adobe Photoshop Cs5 Extended $699 to $899 list Aperture 3 $199 direct POrTABLE MEDIA PLAyErs Microsoft Zune 120GB $249 list Apple iPod touch (4th generation with Camera) 8GB,
$229 direct
AT&T
samsung rugby II sGH-A847

From $249.99 with contract
Apple iPhone 4 $199 list

sPrINT
Vuze 4.5 Free Google Picasa 3.8 Free Apple iLife 11 $49 direct sECurITy
ANTIVIrus
samsung Epic 4G $349.99 list HTC Evo 4G $299.99 list LG rumor Touch
$79.99$279.99 list
T-MOBILE
Apple iPod nano (5th gen.)

16GB, $179 direct
T-Mobile G2 $229 list T-Mobile myTouch 4G

$199 list
VErIZON WIrELEss
NEW
sPEAkErs/DOCks
NEW
Ad-Aware Free Internet security 9.0 Free Webroot AntiVirus with spy sweeper 2011
$39.99 direct
Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air $599.95 list

$60 street
Hercules XPs 2.1 Lounge MEDIA EXTENDErs slingbox PrO-HD

$299 list
HTC Thunderbolt $249 street Motorola Droid 2 Global

$559.99 list
Norton AntiVirus 2011

$39.95 direct
suITE
Norton Internet security 2011

$69.99 yearly
OFFICE & PrODuCTIVITy QuickBooks Premier Edition 2011 $399.95 list
Norton 360 version 5.0

$79.99 for three licenses
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PC Magazine USA 2011-05

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