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iLIFE '06 AND MACBOOK PRO PART OF STRONG LIST OF WINNERS

As we do every year, the editors of Macworld have scoured the Macworld Conference & Expo show floor to find the most-innovative products. This year we picked 14 products that we felt highlighted a commitment to the Mac platform.

• Adobe Lightroom, from Adobe: Lightroom lets you take control of your photos â€" sorting, rating, editing, and publishing â€" in a nondestructive way (pricing not yet announced; www.adobe.com).
• Browseback, from Smile on My Mac: Browseback is a handy way to search your browser history; it gives you thumbnails of every page you've looked at and lets you search your history with keywords ($30; www.smileonmymac.com).
• Docktopus, from Startly Technologies; With Docktopus's Dock-icon badges, your Trash can tell you how many files it contains; iCal's icon will sprout a mini-calendar of events; and any application can display a processor icon that indicates how hard it's working ($20; www.startly.com).
• EyeTV 2, from Elgato Systems: EyeTV 2's dramatically redesigned interface mimics that of iTunes and iPhoto. You can create playlists of video recordings and favorite channel lists, schedule videos to export automatically to iPod, and more ($79; www.elgato.com).
• Google Earth, from Google: This gorgeous program gives you a bird's-eye view of addresses, thanks to detailed satellite photos of Europe and North America (free; earth.google.com).
• iLife '06, from Apple: The latest version of iLife packs a lot into one package, with the new iWeb app for creating Web sites and blogs, and updates to the other apps in the suite ($79; www.apple.com [see page 18 for more details]).
• iSee 360i, from Advanced Technology Office: With the iSee 360i, you can use many pre-fifth-generation iPods to play videos and view photos. The device docks your iPod and can play files stored on the ipod's hard drive on its own 3.6-inch color screen. Plus, it can also be used to record video from a number of different sources ($249; www.atollc.com).
• LightZone, from Light Crafts: Based on the Zone System, a photographic technique popularized by landscape photographer Ansel Adams, this photo-editing app provides an alternative way to view, manage, edit, and correct digital photographs according to light values ($250; www.lightcrafts.com).
• MacBook Pro, from Apple: Powered by an Intel Core Duo processor, the MacBook Pro will, according to Apple, deliver up to four times the performance of its PowerPC-based laptops. It retains the PowerBook's striking metallic look and is essentially the same size, but also has a built-in iSight camera (1.67GHz, $1,999; 1.83GHz, $2,499; www.apple.com).
• MemoryMiner, by GroupSmarts: MemoryMiner lets you explore the relationships between the people and places in your digital photos using an intuitive interface ($60; www.memoryminer.com).
• On Time, from JBL: Not your typical speaker system, the On Time features a looping speaker, a clock radio, and ambient light sensors so it reacts automatically to changing light conditions ($299; www.jbl.com).
• Project X, from Marware: Project X delivers easy-to-understand project management powerful enough for users who want and need high-end features ($200; www.marware.com).
• Suitcase Fusion, from Extensis: Combining characteristics of the Suitcase and Font Reserve font managers, Suitcase Fusion can find and automatically activate exact versions of fonts in a document, including embedded EPS or PDF file fonts ($100; www.extensis.com).
• Tech Tool ProtĂ©gĂ©, from Micromat: This Fire-Wire flash drive comes loaded with a bootable copy of OS X and the latest versions of Micromat's TechTool Pro and DiskStudio. Just plug the TechTool ProtĂ©gĂ© into an ailing Mac's FireWire port, boot up, and use the built-in tools to diagnose and repair the sick machine ($229; www.micromat.com).

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