TMO at Macworld - Macworld Best of Show Awards Handed Out

by , 7:25 PM EDT, July 13th, 2005

BOSTON -- Macworld Online Editor Jim Dalrymple on Wednesday presided over the distribution of the Macworld Best of Show Awards, which are handed out during the San Francisco and Boston editions of the trade show and conference. This time around, the winners were @Last Software's SketchUp 5.0, DLO's Transpod for iPod shuffle, Harman Kardon's Drive + Play, Parliant's PhoneValet Anywhere and PhoneValet Podcast and Software MacKiev's The Print Shop for Mac 2.0.

SketchUp is a set of architectural design tools. The new version features new tools for landscape designers, better sketching tools, improved support for importing and exporting various file formats and more.

Like the other Transpods DLO has released for the iPod, the one made for the shuffle plugs into a cigarette lighter and charges the MP3 player while transmitting music to any FM radio frequency. A 3.5mm auxiliary input hooks up other devices for broadcasting their audio, while the Transpod's USB port can charge cell phones and portable videogame systems.

In contrast, the Drive + Play, which ships in September, lets the user directly connect an iPod to their car stereo through its auxiliary input jack. If their car doesn't have one, they can broadcast their music through an FM station. It includes a separate navigational unit that replaces the iPod's physical interface, as well as a separate backlit LCD screen that can display up to five lines of text.

Parliant's PhoneValet Anywhere enables PhoneValet Message Center users to access their accounts from any computer equipped with a Web browser and an Internet connection. They can access logs and reports, see who's calling in real-time and more. The Podcast edition is a bundle that includes not only the PhoneValet Message Center software but also BIAS' SoundSoap 2 and Peak Express.

Finally, The Print Shop for Mac 2.0, which will ship in August, now includes various page layout features that were requested by users. In addition, the project window was redesigned and the application now ties into the Spotlight searching function found in Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger." Eight photo effects that use Tiger's Core Image technology are also included.