Painter has been around the computer graphics world almost as long as Photoshop and has always been the absolute leader in the realm of simulating natural media (paintbrushes, pencils, inks, and so on)-and retains the title to this very day. While ...

Faster paintbrush response. Excellent natural media tools. Useful interface tweaks

Unimpressive as an upgrade to previous versions. High upgrade cost

If you've just purchased your first graphics tablet or want the most capable natural media painting tool on the Mac, Painter is still your primary choice, but as an update to a venerable and important computer graphics program, Painter 11 doesn't ...

Similar to Backblaze, Carbonite lives in your System Preferences, with an icon in the menubar for checking backup status, pausing a backup for 24 hours, or launching the System Preference. By default, Carbonite backs up your whole hard drive ...

Affordable, unlimited storage. You can pause or disable the app to free up resources. Restore Assistant transfers your data to a new or existing user account

Intel Macs only. No support for versioning or scheduling. Can't back up external drives. Video files excluded by default, but you can add them back in

The price is right for unlimited storage, and we like the convenience of controlling everything from System Preferences. The service is similar to Backblaze, but doesn't match all of Backblaze's features, lacking support for versioning and scheduling.

Just because you leave your computer doesn't mean you have to leave it behind. LogMeIn Ignition offers easy and effective remote access--for a price.

Works with LogMeIn Free accounts. Supports multiple-monitor setups. Solid performance, even over EDGE. Lets you adjust screen resolution remotely. Clever screen-move pointing method simplifies mouse clicks. Excellent user guide

Frequent crashes and error messages. Difficult to scroll within documents and web pages. Key command problems on Macs. Expensive--advanced service features still cost extra

A no-brainer for existing LogMeIn users and an attractive option for everyone else, LogMeIn Ignition puts your (remote) desktop in the palm of your hand.

The decade-old InDesign, which is the de facto standard for print page design, has pushed the envelope of page-layout software by introducing many new features-transparency effects, hanging punctuation, parent/child master pages, and onscreen display ...

A solid set of new features and improvements. Add conditional text, rotated spreads, and automatic page insertion when entering text to the aforementioned new features

Many of the new features (e.g., cross references and SWF export) will appeal only to a relatively small subset of users. No killer new features.

InDesign CS4 is a solid but not spectacular upgrade. If you own InDesign as part of one of the Adobe Create Suite collections, the overall strength of the suite may convince you to upgrade. If you own only InDesign, you'll have to decide whether the ...

The Guided Edit mode gives you a column of options for easy editing. Photoshop Elements has long played the role of little brother, with a streamlined interface and toolset designed for amateur photographers, hobbyists, and anyone who doesn't need ...

Extensive toolset. Easy guided-editing mode. Photomerge Faces and Group Shot are cool. Low price. Universal binary

Album artwork errand boy.

Get art for music not found in the iTunes Store. Embeds album art into song's ID3 tag. Universal binary.

Searches need more features to help increase accuracy.

. CoverScout isn't a one- or two-click solution, but we like how the software incorporates the artwork into the ID3 tags of the file.

Listen up as we review Apple's sound studio hit.

Killer bargain. Nicely overhauled interface. Everything you need in one box to make marvelous music. Universal binary.

A touch unstable. Some of the instruments need updating.

. Logic Studio has risen to the rank of best musical bargain on any computing platform, and will likely make some third-party music software publishers lose precious sleep. Apple has officially come up with a major hit, and we're thrilled to see what ...

Needs more salt.

Exports video to many preconfigured device formats. Batch export runs several tasks in succession. Optional Turbo.264 accelerator ($100) greatly speeds processing. Compresses dual-layer movie DVDs into single-layer discs ; Doesn't work with copy ...

Doesn't work with copy-protected movies. No simple editing option. Cropping not possible

. Popcorn works well for basic video compression for a DVD, iPod, or other portable device, but it tastes more like a snack than a meal.

All the news fit to feed - and then some.

Easy to use. Good sorting tools. Microformat support. Universal binary.

Some performance quirks. Microformat support on the Web is in its infancy. Needs more feed filters.

. News junkies will find NetNewsWire 3.0 to be an invaluable tool. If you don't need many management tools, try NewsGator's NetNewsWire Lite (free) or Vienna (free).

The newest version of Toast will fuel your disc-burning fire.

Wide support for media, hardware, audio, video, and disc formats. Large burns span across discs. Video can be processed for iPod. Universal binary ; Extra utilities add little punch. WMV importing requires third-party tool. Won't back up most ...

Extra utilities add little punch. WMV importing requires third-party tool. Won't back up most commercial DVD movies. Windows users get TiVoToGo for free

. Toast 8 Titanium's extras are only occasionally useful, but its vast support for disc burners and formats makes it easy to recommend.