Digital Trends

Five brand-new products pick up coveted Best of Show awards at the IDG Macworld Conference and Expo in Boston.

The editorship of Macworld magazine and associated Web sites announced five Best of Show winners today at the IDG Macworld Conference and Expo 2005 in Boston. To be eligible, products had to be introduced at the show itself (or recently enough that they generated excitement amongst attendees) and available for hands-on evaluation by the editorial staff. Not surprisingly, given the continuing success of Apple's iPod, winners include products aimed at the digital music market:

• Harman Kardon's Drive + Play—scheduled to be available in September—is an in-car iPod dock featuring a backlit LED display which lets users see the contents of their iPod as well as configure the "Brain" the interface which connects to the iPod (and charges it while driving). A 3.5mm output jack plugs into a car stereo, although the Drive + Play can also broadcast to unused FM frequencies as well as route audio from other devices like a satellite radio.
• Parliant's PhoneValet combines hardware/software product turns a Mac into a call center, with features like voicemail and call history. Two new enhancements take PhoneValet into new territory/ PhoneValet Anywhere enables PhoneValet Message Center 3.0 users to access messages, reports, logs, and phone books from anywhere via the Internet. PhoneValet Podcast is an extension to PhoneValet Message Center 3.0 which includes tools for recording phone conversations and later editing them via VST-enabled editions of BIAS's Peak Express and SoundSoap 2. Privacy implications aside, PhoneValet Podcast offers a powerful solution for podcasters and others who conduct phone interviews or who record events via phone for later broadcast or publication.
• The inexpensive The Print Shop for Mac 2.0 from Software MacKiev will be shipping this August, and it starts to take on the big boys of page layout by introducing new page layout tools like gridlines, rules, and snap functionality, and a new project window enables users to group items into four predefined categories. The Print Shop also gains drag-and-drop functionality with Apple's iPhoto, Mail, and other programs, and draws on the capabilities of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger's SpotLight and CoreImage technologies.
• SketchUp 5.0, from @Last Software, an architectural design tool for Mac OS X. The new version expands libraries, offers augmented sketching tools, improves file import & export, and adds a collection of "sandbox" tools for landscape designers.
• Transpod for iPod shuffle is an FM transmitter for Apple's iPod shuffle portable music player which can tune to any available FM frequency and plugs into a car's cigarette lighter or accessory jack. The Transpod for iPod shuffle simultaneously plays music and charges an iPod shuffle via USB, and also offers a 3.5mm stereo output.