MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/90549
FEATURE Adobe Creative Suite 6 Four, Olympus. This is the fourth straight year we've awarded an Olympus four thirds system camera. Our conviction that Olympus comfortably leads the compact interchangeable lens camera field was confirmed earlier this year by analyst Jim Fisher over at PC Magazine, whose Imatest results showed that Olympus's new OM- D EM-5 produces measurably better images than Sony's flagship NEX-7. That's in spite of a larger sensor on Sony's system. Yet Sony makes the fabulous sensor that powers the Olympus cameras. So how does Olympus stillmanage to come out on top? Through Is it something in the air? The great suites, usually cumbersome, slow, and easy to poke fun at, are growing sleek, while losing none of their power. Last year, we awarded Microsoft for remarkable improvements in Office 2010/2011 on both Mac and PC. This year it's Adobe's turn. We haven't been absolutely mad about an Adobe Creative Suite version since CS3, but 2012's Creative Suite 6 shows the company in awesome form. This is the most smoothly executed rendition of a hugely complex suite of programs we've seen yet, and it's equally impressive and virtually identical on both OS X and Windows. Every program has been fine-tuned and honed. Speed and usability have never been so high across the board. Just as with MS Office last year, we were stunned by the responsive feeling each program in the suite displays. Reliability and freedom from bugs are also noticeable. There's never been a release of Creative Suite that gives you such a feeling of confidence in the tools you're working with. Yes, like everyone, we have a few pet peeves. But we're not going to mention them, because carping pales into insignificance when you experience the overall quality of this release. We think Adobe is responding to users' deepest needs in a way we haven't seen in quite a while, and we hope to see the trend continue. We predict 6 is going to be the most successful release of Creative Suite ever. Olympus Norton Norton has been famous for anti-virus since 1991, when Norton/Symantec's first antivirus product came out. The real news has been in the last five or six years, when the company has made a sustained effort to (1) have zero impact on computer performance and (2) stay comfortably ahead of the many competing products on both Mac and PC. Norton has succeeded in realizing both goals. Going into 2013, the Norton antivirus, 360 and Internet Security products are still tops, but there are several changes to note: 1. Norton One is a moderately priced subscription service that includes Norton's top products and outstanding unlimited 24/7 phone support. Trust us, we've tried it. It's great. Norton One protects up to five devices — any combination of PCs, Macs or Android smartphones and tablets — and includes 25 GB of cloud backup. its superior lens design and manufacturing. Other OM highlights include what is still, measurably, the world's fastest autofocus system, a boost from 12 megapixels to 16 megapixels, and improved low light performance. We take great pleasure in awarding the OM-D EM-5 this year. In addition to the phenomenally sharp 12-50 lens (24-100 35 mm equivalent) that comes standard with the OM-D, we also had the opportunity to test Olympus's fast 45 mm f/1.8 lens. Like others we were impressed by its speed, sharpness and bokeh(the aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas). Yes, we prefer the convenience of the zoom, but we easily achieved stunning pictures with this lens we couldn't have gotten any other way, as the rose picture on this page shows. MacDirectory 97