Editors select standouts in hardware, software, Web sites, and services.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 31 /PRNewswire/ -- PC World, the most widely-read computer or
business magazine, today announced the winners of its annual World Class Awards.
The "100 Best Products of 2006" in the July issue features the finest products
and services of the past 12 months, from antispyware utilities to wireless
broadband technology, from Adobe Photoshop CS2 to Z-Wave. The issue will be on
newsstands June 13, and the article is now available at http://find.pcworld.com/53822.
This year's list of World Class winners contains a wide range of products and
services for work, home, and everywhere in between. The editors' picks reflect
the ever-changing world of technology, with revolutionary products in various
categories, such as remote access software, power notebook computers, portable
hard drives, home-theater receivers, and online bargain trackers. The 2006
Product of the Year is the Intel Core Duo, a Notebook/Desktop CPU. Editors noted
that it " ... provides multitasking power never before possible on a portable PC
... The Core Duo processor is so good that it's the CPU of choice not only for
Windows laptops but also for Apple's Windows-capable laptop and desktop Macs."
PC World editors also selected "Top Companies of the Year" in various
categories: Web Company of the Year: Yahoo!; Software Company of the Year:
Adobe; and Hardware Company of the Year: Apple. Also included in the article is
"The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time" (http://find.pcworld.com/53824).
In addition, site visitors can view two streaming videos narrated by staff
editors with more information on the "Best Products of the Year" and the "Worst
Products of the Year."
A new component to the 2006 World Class Awards article is a live online chat
hosted by PC World Senior Writer Alan Stafford. The interactive discussion will
answer questions about the featured products and how they were rated, all in
real-time. The event will take place on June 6, 2006 at 4pm/Pacific. Interested
participants can sign-up here:
http://find.pcworld.com/53808. Transcripts will be available on PCWorld.com
post-chat.
The complete list of ranked winners follows; editors made their selections based
on exemplary design, features, performance, innovation, and price. The honorees
were selected after editors reviewed hundreds of products, including those that
have appeared in the magazine over the last year.
2006 PC WORLD WORLD CLASS AWARD WINNERS
RANK COMPANY DESCRIPTION/PRODUCT
1 Intel NOTEBOOK/DESKTOP CPU: Intel Core Duo
2 AMD DESKTOP CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core
3 craigslist WEB CLASSIFIEDS: craigslist.org
4 Apple DIGITAL AUDIO PLAYER: Apple iPod nano
5 Seagate PORTABLE HARD DRIVE: Seagate 160GB Portable Hard
Drive
6 Google SATELLITE IMAGERY: Google Earth
7 Adobe VIDEO EDITOR: Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0
8 Canon DIGITAL SLR CAMERA: Canon EOS 30D
9 YouTube VIDEO-SHARING SITE: YouTube.com
10 Apple MAC DUAL-BOOTER: Apple Boot Camp
11 Adobe IMAGE EDITOR: Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0
12 Mozilla WEB BROWSER: Mozilla Firefox 1.5
13 Weblogs GADGET BLOG: Engadget.com
14 Toshiba HD DVD PLAYER: Toshiba HD-A1
15 Toshiba POWER NOTEBOOK COMPUTER: Toshiba Qosmio
G35-AV600
16 NVIDIA GRAPHICS CARD CHIP SET: NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
17 Google SEARCH ENGINE: Google
18 Sonos DIGITAL AUDIO STREAMER: Sonos ZonePlayer 80
19 RedOctane VIDEO GAME: RedOctane Guitar Hero
20 Yamaha HOME-THEATER RECEIVER: Yamaha RX-V4600
21 Pioneer BLU-RAY DRIVE: Pioneer BDR-101A
22 Adobe IMAGE EDITOR: Adobe Photoshop CS2
23 Citrix Systems REMOTE ACCESS: Citrix GoToMyPC 5.0
24 dealnews.com ONLINE BARGAIN TRACKER: dealnews.com
25 Palm GPS: Palm GPS Navigator
26 Senvid REMOTE ACCESS: MioNet
27 Canonical LINUX DISTRIBUTION: Ubuntu
28 Mozilla E-MAIL APPLICATION: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5
29 Canon MULTIFUNCTION PRINTER: Canon PIXMA MP950
30 Yahoo! WEB-BASED E-MAIL: Yahoo! Mail (Beta)
31 TiVo DIGITAL VIDEO RECORDER: TiVo
32 Avvenu REMOTE FILE ACCESS: Avvenu
33 Google BLOGGING SERVICE: Blogger
34 Sony ADVANCED DIGITAL CAMERA: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-R1
35 Apple VALUE DESKTOP COMPUTER: Apple Mac mini
36 Apple DIGITAL AUDIO/VIDEO PLAYER: Apple iPod
37 Lenovo ULTRALIGHT NOTEBOOK: Lenovo ThinkPad X60s
38 SideStep TRAVEL SITE: SideStep.com
39 Microsoft ONLINE MAPPING: Windows Live Local
40 Creative
Technology SOUND CARD: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi
41 Alienware POWER DESKTOP COMPUTER: Alienware Aurora 7500
42 NEC FLAT-PANEL MONITOR: NEC MultiSync LCD 2180WG-LED
43 Apple DIGITAL AUDIO SOFTWARE: Apple iTunes
44 Olympus DIGITAL SLR CAMERA: Olympus EVOLT E-330
45 Ultimate Ears EARPHONES: Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 Pro
46 Creative
Technology DIGITAL AUDIO/VIDEO PLAYER: Creative ZEN
Vision:M
47 Google DESKTOP SEARCH: Google Desktop
48 Opera Software BROWSER: Opera 9.0 (Beta)
49 Mitsubishi PROJECTOR: Mitsubishi XD460U
50 Vonage VOIP SERVICE: Vonage
51 StumbleUpon BROWSER ADD-ON: StumbleUpon
52 InformAction BROWSER ADD-ON: NoScript 1.1.4
53 Webroot Software ANTISPYWARE: Webroot Spy Sweeper 4.5
54 Microsoft KEYBOARD: Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard
4000
55 Western Digital HARD DRIVE: Western Digital Raptor X
56 Yahoo! ONLINE MAPPING: Yahoo! Maps (Beta)
57 Intuit PERSONAL FINANCE: Intuit Quicken Premier 2006
58 ATI Technologies GRAPHICS BOARD: ATI Radeon X1900 XTX
59 Javacool LICENSE ANALYZER: Javacool EULAlyzer Personal
1.1
60 EIZO 24-INCH WIDE-SCREEN LCD MONITOR: EIZO FlexScan
S2410W
61 Kosmix SEARCH ENGINE: Kosmix.com
62 T-Mobile CELLULAR PHONE: T-Mobile SDA
63 ASUS MOTHERBOARD: ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe
64 Dell 30-INCH WIDE-SCREEN LCD MONITOR: Dell UltraSharp
3007WFP
65 Meebo INSTANT MESSAGING: Meebo (Alpha)
66 Corel GRAPHICS SOFTWARE: Corel Painter IX.5
67 Samsung LCD TV: Samsung LN-S3251D
68 Cerulean Studios INSTANT MESSAGING CLIENT: Cerulean Studios
Trillian 3.1
69 RealNetworks ONLINE MUSIC: Rhapsody
70 In2M ONLINE BUDGETING: In2M Mvelopes Personal 3
71 Canon PHOTO PRINTER: Canon PIXMA iP6600D
72 EMC BACKUP SOFTWARE: EMC Retrospect Professional 7.5
73 Yahoo! DIGITAL AUDIO SITE/SOFTWARE: Yahoo! Music
Engine 1.1
74 Network Magic HOME NETWORKING: Network Magic
75 Zensys HOME AUTOMATION: Z-Wave
76 BitDefender ANTIVIRUS: BitDefender 9 Standard
77 Sage Software SMALL-BUSINESS FINANCE: Sage Software Simply
Accounting Basic 13
78 Yahoo! PHOTO-SHARING SITE: Flickr
79 Nero CD/DVD BURNING: Nero 7 Ultra Edition
80 Nuance Dragon VOICE RECOGNITION: Nuance Dragon
NaturallySpeaking 8
81 Kodak PHOTO PRINTING SERVICE: Kodak EasyShare Gallery
82 EvDO WIRELESS BROADBAND: EvDO
83 LaCie EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE: LaCie d2 Hard Drive Serial
ATA
84 HP DLP TV: HP Md5880n
85 Qnext P-TO-P COMMUNICATIONS: Qnext 2
86 Salling Software PRESENTATION REMOTE: Salling Clicker 3
87 Epson SCANNER: Epson Perfection V700 Photo
88 Mindjet DATA-ORGANIZING SOFTWARE: Mindjet MindManager
Pro 6
89 Microsoft GAME CONSOLE: Microsoft Xbox 360
90 iRiver DIGITAL AUDIO/VIDEO PLAYER: iRiver Clix
91 Fuji POINT-AND-SHOOT DIGITAL CAMERA: Fujifilm FinePix
E900
92 NVIDIA GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX
93 del.icio.us SOCIAL NETWORKING: del.icio.us
94 Serious Magic POWERPOINT ADD-ON: Serious Magic Ovation
95 WordPress BLOGGING TOOL: WordPress
96 Amazon SEARCH TOOLBAR: Amazon A9 Toolbar
97 ThinkFree ONLINE OFFICE SUITE: ThinkFree Office Online
98 Mozdev.org FIREFOX EXTENSION: Greasemonkey
99 NewsGator RSS READER: NewsGator FeedDemon 2.0
100 Sysinternals ANTISPYWARE: Sysinternals RootkitRevealer 1.7
About PC World:
PC World Communications, Inc., a subsidiary of IDG, is the publisher of PC
World, PCWorld.com (www.pcworld.com),
and home of the PC World Test Center. The winner of the 2005 Maggie Award for
Best Computer Magazine/Consumer, PC World is the most widely-read computer or
business magazine with a readership of over 4.9 million (IntelliQuest CIMS 2005:
Total unduplicated, combined Average Issue Audience: Business, Home, and Dual
Studies). With an average of over 6.4 million unique visitors per month (HitBox,
February - April 2006), PCWorld.com, winner of the 2005 Neal Award for Best Web
Site, is a leading online resource for technology product buyers and users.
About IDG:
International Data Group (IDG) is the world's leading technology media, events,
and research company. IDG publishes more than 300 magazines and newspapers in 85
countries including CIO, CSO, Computerworld, GamePro, InfoWorld, Macworld,
Network World, and PC World. IDG's online network includes more than 400 Web
sites spanning business technology, consumer technology, digital entertainment,
and gaming worldwide. IDG is a leading producer of more than 170
technology-related events including LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, Macworld
Conference & Expo, DEMO, and IDC Directions. IDC, a subsidiary of IDG, is the
premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events.
Over 850 IDC analysts in 50 countries provide global, regional, and local
expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends. Additional
information about IDG, a privately-held company, is available at
http://www.idg.com.
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