ADOBE
Soundbooth CS3: 199
www.adobe.com

EVERYONE KNOWS PHOTOSHOP and Premiere, but rarely do you hear of Adobe’s two audio tools: Audition and Soundbooth. Audition includes a comprehensive set of tools for professional audio production. Soundbooth is Adobe’s newest offering. It’s a simpler task-based solution aimed at more mainstream audio enthusiasts. According to Adobe, it’s perfect for your video editing customer or graphic artist working in Flash.

Many of the tool’s features help automate audio tasks a sound engineer might tackle manually in Audition. For example, audio cleanup automatically detects recording flaws such as chirps, humming, hisses, and pops then eliminates them. AutoComposer takes an included Soundbooth Score and lets the user customize it for his project, so premade soundtracks don’t sound canned. Cut, copy, paste, fade, and stretch tools make editing even easier.

Soundbooth gives your customer the freedom to create high-quality voiceovers or pull from Adobe’s Resource Central sound effects archive.

Tight integration infuses Soundbooth with even more utility for those who use Adobe’s other products. For instance, when audio from a Premiere Pro project is opened and edited in Soundbooth, the files are automatically updated back in the Premiere Pro timeline. Soundbooth also lets your customer drop markers that can be accessed in Flash to drive animations or create captions.

SHUTTLE
SG33G5 Barebones Platform: $360
us.shuttle.com

WE ALREADY KNOW THAT INTEL'S 45NM CORE 2 PROCESSORS are going to be available at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. Those chips will run cooler, sport extra cache, and support faster front-side bus speeds. Your customers are going to want to jump onboard when 45nm parts emerge. In the meantime, they’re still replacing old systems with today’s technology. Make sure that the hardware you’re selling now can handle the transition to 45nm.

Customers buying small form factor platforms should check out Shuttle’s new SG33G5 barebones system, which hosts a motherboard based on Intel’s G33 Express chipset. In addition to full support for those next-gen CPUs, the G33 also features Intel’s Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 with Clear Video Technology. The GMA 3100 isn’t going to knock anyone’s socks off with phenomenal 3D performance. However, it does have what it takes to accelerate the eye candy in Windows Vista. Home theater buffs will also like the box’s HDMI output, which delivers a digital video signal to the latest big screen TVs.

An Intel ICH9DH southbridge attaches to the G33, enabling enough SATA 3 Gbps connectivity to fill the chassis’ two internal 3.5” drive bays and a pair of eSATA ports for add-on drives. The communications hub also features HD Audio, which works with Realtek’s ALC888DD codec to deliver Dolby Digital Live and DTS Connect functionality. Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, and support for up to 4GB of DDR2-800 memory round out the SG33G5’s impressively long list of specifications.

MICROSOFT
Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000: $149
www.microsoft.com

AFTER SPENDING GOOD MONEY ON A DUAL-CORE PROCESSOR discrete graphics card, and scalable motherboard, many customers realize they still don’t have a display, keyboard, or mouse and suddenly decide to get frugal. After all, these peripherals don’t greatly affect performance, so saving some money won’t diminish speed. But spending less on I/O might mean ergonomic complications or replacing hardware down the road.

Microsoft’s Wireless Entertainment Desktop 7000 is pricey for a mouse/keyboard combination, but this kit is the quad-core processor of high-end peripherals. Both the mouse and keyboard are wireless, employing 2.4 GHz Bluetooth technology to communicate at up to 30 feet. The mouse is rechargeable, and Microsoft says the keyboard’s battery lasts more than nine months on average.

The combo is certified for Vista. In fact, several of its features are Vista-optimized. For example, the Windows Start button fires up the Start menu and facilitates PC or Web-based searching in Vista. The Windows Live Call button launches the Live Messenger contact list, and a Media Center Start button accesses Windows Media Center.

There’s a lot of solid technology built into the mouse and keyboard combo aside from Bluetooth. Battery status indicators warn you when power is running short, four-way scrolling enables quick browsing in any direction, and laser tracking delivers responsive mouse movement. A thin keyboard design is ergonomically designed for optimal wrist placement and light enough to migrate easily around a home theater environment.

INTEL
DG33TL Desktop Motherboard: $149
www.intel.com

INTEL'S PLATFORM MESSAGE is inspiring to customers who see the value in integrating a processor, chipset, and motherboard all based on the same company’s technology, all tested to work flawlessly together. The DG33TL Desktop Board takes that same concept to a whole new level by including lots of integrated extras.

Through the board’s G33 chipset, you get support for up to 8GB of DDR2-800 memory, compatibility with Intel’s upcoming 45nm processors, and a built-in GMA 3100 graphics subsystem armed with hardware to accelerate video playback.

Attached to the G33, you’ll find an ICH9DH southbridge, which extends support for the Viiv initiative. The feature-rich I/O controller offers seven-channel High Definition Audio through five analog outputs and an optical digital output on the back panel. Twelve USB ports originate from six external connectors and three internal headers. Six SATA 3Gbps ports (and an eSATA port) guarantee lots of room for storage expansion on the tiny board. An Intel Gigabit Ethernet controller attached to the ICH facilitates speedy network communication. Despite its diminutive size, the DG33TL offers one PCI Express x16 slot for discrete graphics, two PCI Express x1 connectors, and a standard PCI slot for upgrades.