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RMG211 - MacWorld Expo Preview
The weather forecast for San Francisco shows that next week is going to be beautiful with days in the high 50’s and nights in the mid 40’s. The week starts out cloudy and ends sunny. No rain is in the forecast.
It’s the weekend before the Expo and it’s a good time to fill you in on what’s happening at Moscone Center this weekend and next week. I’m not going this year because of a immanent birth of a grandchild but having worked in the exhibit hall many times in the past, I thought I’d fill you in on what’s happening there prior to the show. One of the benefits of having an exhibitor badge is that you can get into the hall ahead of the crowd who aren’t allowed in until after the end of the keynote address.
Empty of exhibitors, the underground halls at Moscone Center have bare concrete floors and look sort of like giant aircraft hangers. I always take a moment to check out the arches that support the roofs of the halls as my dad, a structural engineer who worked in San Francisco, had a hand in their design. Exhibits arrive in crates, cases and boxes and for a couple of days before the show opens, the floor is a buzz of activity as displays are assembled, carpets are unrolled and cables run. Having an exhibitor pass is fun because you get a preview of what the various exhibitors are going to be displaying over the next few days.
All the exhibitors except Apple that is. The Apple booth is completely shrouded with a double layer of floor to ceiling black curtains. Security guards with no sense of humor patrol the perimeter and quickly turn away anyone who doesn’t have a special Apple exhibit setup pass. Even the huge Apple banners and posters that announce the new products are shrouded in black.
One of the more interesting aspects of this year’s expo is it’s timing, coming a week later than in most previous years. Normally the show runs concurrently with the mega Consumer Electronics Expo in Las Vegas. I’m guessing that the schedule change is signaling a banner year for product announcements at the Expo with no pesky CES news cluttering up the media stream.
Speaking of CES, a member of the Gizmodo blogging team was banned for life for a prank he played at the expo. Using one of Mitch Altman’s TV-B-Gone, or a similar device, the Gizmodo staffer turned off television monitors at the display booths of several CES vendors. Folks, I love being able to turn off the monitors in airport lounges when I’m trying to take a nap, but interfering with a marketing party is a bit over-the-top.
In a sort-of related story, this past Thursday, a teen in Lodz Poland figured out that the city’s tram track were switching using the same sort of IR technology. I’m guessing that vendors at MacWorld are buying up rolls of gaffer’s tape to cover the IR ports on monitors used at the show.
That brings up the question of what Apple is going to announce this year. This has been a huge year for Apple with the Leopard operating system, the iPhone and iPod touch launching. Last week, there was a “soft” launch of new 8 core Mac Pro’s and Xserve’s so we know that they won’t be the big news. That leaves the other segments of Apple’s product line; iMacs, portables, Mac minis, iPods, iPhones, AppleTV and perhaps an entirely new product category.
Of course, we all know what Dave want’s to see announced; a replacement for his aging 12″ G4 Powerbook. I don’t care if it’s called the MacTablet, the MacBook Nano or Fred. I just wont one.
Today (Saturday), folks on the ground in San Francisco are reporting that Expo banners are appearing at Moscone Center reading “2008 - There’s something is in the air.” Is it heralding a new
Of course, only a very few people know exactly what Steve Jobs will be announcing at the expo. While Apple occasionally talks about future products, mostly it’s a matter of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
If you’re going to the expo, I do have a few hints and tips. The food inside the exhibit hall is overpriced and underwhelming. My suggestion; go out of the exhibit hall, walk down Howard street to 6th, turn right and walk toward Market. Tu Lan is an amazing tiny but delicious Vietnamese restaurant. You’ll recognize the place by the line of lunch customers waiting to get in.
It wouldn’t be a trade show without some fabulous parties. The days of the famed Apple Developers parties or the huge Ingram events are long gone, but there are still lots of great social events around the show. My favorite for the past few years has been the Final Cut Pro Users Group SuperMeet on Wednesday evening. This year the event will take place in the Robertson Auditorium at the Mission Bay Conference Center. Admission costs $10 in advance or (if any space is left) $15 at the door. Admission includes 2 raffle tickets. This party always has fabulous raffle prizes.
(bumper)
In other Apple news, Apple announced a new one price for all Euro iTunes Music Stores. In the past, prices varied across the Euro iTMS’s with especially high prices in the UK.
In the 3rd party news department, the software geniuses at NewsGator have released NetNewsWire 3.1.1. The new features are nice, but the biggest news is that the product is now free. I’ve been using NetNewsWire since it’s early days and from where I sit, it’s the premier news reader for Mac OS.
In security news, the US Government Computer Emergency Readiness Team has notified users that there is a Trojan Horse exploit spreading through the internet effecting iPhone users. The Trojan claims to be a tool used to prepare iPhones for upgrade to firmware version 1.1.3. I know that there are folk out on the bleeding edge of iPhone modification, but please, don’t install software on your device unless it comes from a trusted source.
I hope that each of you will be sitting in Moscone Center for Steve’s keynote on Tuesday. If you can’t make it, several popular web sites are live blogging from the event. Unless my daughter is in labor during the keynote, I’ll be watching on MacRumorsLive.com. The presentation is scheduled to start at 9AM Pacific US time. If you’re attending, and don’t have a VIP pass, people start lining up outside Moscone in the very early hours of the morning.
Music on todays podcast comes from the Podsafe Music Network and includes the California Waltz by Hans York and City Lights by James Curry.
The photo in todays posting is of a small part of the line for the keynote at last years Expo. Photo credited to Blake Burris and was released under a Creative Commons Attribution License just like this edition of Radio MacGuys.
RMG210 - Radio Macguys for Sunday, January the 6th, 2007.
It’s all about MacWorld. Like, apparently others, Dave is hoping that a new sub-notebook/tablet. I hope that the device happens and that it has all the features that I’m looking for.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have wireless connectivity from your new MacPad to a monitor? The technology exists and it would be just like Apple to kick it up a notch.
I will hopefully be celebrating the birth of my first grandchild around the time that Steve is giving us “one more thing”.
Thanks to Wil Maring for allowing us to podcast her lovely tune, “Flapping my Wings”. You can find Wil’s music on myspace.
The quote is attributed to Mark Twain.
The photograph is from the wedding of Arnold Pompos & Sarka Malkova. The image was found on a US Government web site. Isn’t she a beautiful bride?
In North Florida it’s daylight savings time and we’ve set our clocks back an hour. Now when it’s time for day shift workers to go home, it’s dark outside. The weather has gotten colder and much drier. For many people in the United States of America, it’s the end of a 4 day vacation. When it comes to vacations, folks in the USA, compared to other nations, get a pretty bad deal.
I crammed a lot of fun into the last 4 days and am looking forward to a longer holiday next month.
I hope that wherever you are, you’re listening to live music. My holiday wish to each and every one of you is that you dance as often as you possibly can. Find a club, a ballroom, a contra dance, a barn dance, a pow wow … just get out and move your body.
My hometown of Tallahassee used to have an amazing dance hall. Big bands from all over the country would come to Tallahassee in private railroad coaches. There was a siding behind the dance hall. The building is still standing, although the railroad siding is gone. I’m offering 150 imaginary TallyCast points to the person who sends (or points me to an on-line source) the best (IMHO) photograph of this building.
The studio is in the middle of a rebuild so it will be a few weeks before you hear RadioMacGuys or the TallyCast in it’s audio form. I’m asking Santa for a new field recorder (Zoom H2)
Music on today’s podcast comes from the Nashville Session Players.
I’m back from the last few months of being a part time builder.
Today’s podcast is about music, early adopters, the iPhone, the Nokia N770 and N800, new iPods and the next product I’d like to see Apple produce.
Support open software, local music and pray for peace.
Dave
Inside the Classic
Originally uploaded by Patrick Haney.
Continuing our series of Macintosh innards photos; this is the inside of the Mac Classic, an update of the Mac SE sold mostly to schools. Note the warning label on the back of the CRT (picture tube) and the thick red wire. Even after a Classic was powered down and unplugged from the mains, there was still a dangerous (and potentially lethal) electrical charge remaining on the back of the tube and in the red wire (which wen to the flyback transformer).
In order to safely work on devices that included a CRT, Apple provided a “CRT discharge tool” (Part No. 076-0381) which provided a safe way to drain the charge. Photo by Patrick Haney (thanks) via Flickr and licensed under Creative Commons.
Today’s Radio MacGuys is going to be a ramble cast.
The opening tune on this podcast is Chinese Telephone from Chicago band, Nomad Planets and comes to us through garageband.com.
Tomorrow is the launch date for the iPhone and I’m very excited. While thanks to a contract for service from another vendor, I’m not going to be an early adopter, there is an iPhone in my future.
There was a lot of good news around the iPhone in the last week. The pricing plans are out and are reasonable. While a lot of people are shaking their heads at EDGE connectivity, with WiFi as an option, it’s not that big of a deal. I am sorry to see the limits on SMS messages. We all know that these don’t cost the company anything, and should be encouraged.
One bright spot is that an RSS reader for the iPhone has been released. If you’re reading this on an iPhone, click here to go to Apple’s iPhone rss reader.
Steve Jobs held a company-wide “town hall” meeting today to brief the troops on the iPhone. According to ArsTechnica, it was announced that all Apple employees who have a tenure of at least a year, will be getting an iPhone.
For folks who have an existing contract and just can’t wait, Wired magazine has a few ideas about how to break that contract.
Of course, the erotic content folks are already making plans for the iPhone. Playboy has announced iPlayboy, a special set of content configured for the iPhone’s screen.
Folks who publish glamor and erotica like Playboy depend on Adobe Photoshop for getting rid of that inconvenient pimple. Check out this great article from the UK magazine, Computer Arts on the history of Photoshop.
This week marks the passing of the torch at MobuzzTV. That cute Berkeley hippie girl, Karina Stenquist, has left the anchor chair and has been replaced by Susan Hickey who bears a striking similarity to Joanna Colan, who in turn, looks a lot like Amanda Congdon. I’ll miss the slightly edgy, always informative and usually entertaining Stenquist. I guess that to be the successful host of a popular daily video podcast, you have to be a young woman with long hair and a British accent.
This past Tuesday was a “day of silence” for many internet broadcasters as they worked to increase public awareness of the latest insanity being forced on us by the “musician rights” organizations.
From new technology to death. I know it’s a stretch, but last week, an old friend died. Katie was a computer newbie when she bought her first iMac a few years ago. Heart disease
The image distributed with this podcast is courtesy of Windell H. Oskay from www.evilmadscientist.com. It’s distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
Did you buy an iPhone. Drop us a line or give us a call and let us know how it’s working out for you.
iphone.jpg
Originally uploaded by WendySkeleton.
Flickr image by Wendy Skeleton.
scutenning the powerbook
Originally uploaded by kitestramuort.
Have you ever wondered what’s under the skin of your Powerbook? Photo by kitestramuort and was found on Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons.
