The folks at Telestream have been busy of late—among other things, we've seen the release of version 2 of the Flip4Mac WMV components, the update of same to run natively on Intel Macs, Telestream's acquisition of Popwire, and finally, the re-branding of the former Compression Master as the Episode series of products. Today's review specifically concerns Episode Pro 4.2 (+ Flash 8), and as a service to those of you with the attention span of a gnat (like myself) who like to get to the bottom line quickly, here it is: Episode=excellent.

Allow me to begin with a rhetorical, albeit serious, question: if they held a Macworld and there were no Macs, wouldn't it just be called "World?" As much as I would love to smugly sit back while you ponder that enormously profound query, instead let us endeavor to break through the enormous hype bubble generated by the introduction of the iPhone to get at a select handful of some of the more interesting items unveiled at or around this year's Macworld. Well, interesting to me, anyway.

2007 is finally upon us, and with the dawn of a new year comes a merciful end to the scourge of top ten lists that anyone with access to any sort of media outlet seems to spew forth. So, in the same hypocritical breath, allow me to present the fourth installment of our occasionally continuing series of not-quite-new but nonetheless battle-tested (and don't forget inexpensive!) Mac programs that I, your host for and author of this wildly self-important exercise, currently can't live without.