Stitching together multiple images to make panoramic photos involves a hefty amount of planning, preparation, and trial and error, as well as extensive post-production tweaking. Autopano Pro is a highly intelligent app that automates much of the task and creates some truly lovely panoramic shots with minimal effort.

The camera is completely plug and play. No software is needed—or even included. Most of our video apps, including iChat, QuickTime, and ScreenFlow, recognized the QuickCam Vision Pro automatically. Unfortunately, iMovie and Final Cut Express failed to see the camera, although you can easily record video using QuickTime and import those files into your editor of choice.

If you use your ’Book on a desk, the stylish mStand props the screen up 6 inches and clears space for your external mouse and keyboard. The stand, made of a single piece of aluminum, has rubber pads to keep both the stand and notebook stable, and it has a vent on the bottom.

Unlike its predecessor, the Flip Video Ultra, the Mino uses an internal rechargeable battery. You won’t be able to pop into a store for more power when you’re away from home, but the internal battery makes the Mino an entirely self-contained affair.

The K200D’s image quality is excellent. We shot pictures from ISO 100 to 1600—in dark alleys and on brightly lit beaches—and exposure was spot-on. Images were virtually noiseless at ISO 400 and only slightly grainy above that. Brilliant, color-perfect, 13-by-9-inch, tack-sharp prints. Whatever we asked for, the camera delivered.

Whatever your habitat, this software has everything that casual or serious birders need: comprehensive profiles of over 900 birds, pictures, video clips, maps, and (our favorite) song samples provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Speed typists might be skeptical about the app’s usefulness—and we might have sided with those skeptics before we installed it. In mere minutes, we created a couple dozen “snippets,” or chunks of text that appear in any application when you type certain shortcuts. TextExpander also allows you to limit the apps that certain snippets work for, which is useful for keeping your html snippets out of Word documents, for example.

How many remotes does it take to watch TV? It sounds like the setup for a cruel joke about our entertainment system. Just to watch a television show, we have separate remotes for the TV, TiVo, audio receiver, and HDMI switch. The universal Harmony One is nearly perfect to replace these and other controllers, combining all your devices into one sleek, adaptable remote.

Practically everyone has played a board or two of Bejeweled, the match-three puzzle classic that sucks casual gamers in on Macs, PCs, consoles, iPods, and mobile phones. Puzzle Quest starts with the same gameplay, but adds strategy and RPG elements to keep things interesting.

If you’re using your Mac to make music, you need to stop reading this review right now and download the Pianoteq 45-day demo. This is one of the most enticing and useful software instruments in existence, and even though it’s not cheap, it’s a lot easier to lug to a gig than a real piano—and sounds about as good. Did we mention that it never goes out of tune?