That time of year is coming up again. And no, I’m not talking about Christmas. This event is going on February 9th through the 13th, and is known as the Macworld Expo. And yes, while it’s sad that Apple won’t be appearing this year, you might also be surprised to hear who else isn’t showing up. Despite IDG mentioning HP, Microsoft, FastMac, Shure and Intuit had already signed up during their town hall meeting last January, the exhibitor list they’ve posted says otherwise. Currently missing from there are both Microsoft and Intuit. Other than imitating Apple as Microsoft commonly does, why would they choose to also leave the Macworld expo?

While the answer to that question is currently unknown, there could be a few reasons. For one, maybe it is simply that Microsoft doesn’t feel a need to be present at an event for Mac products that Apple isn’t even present at. That said, it could also be that Microsoft doesn’t have any announcements worthy of paying the price to set up a booth there. However, Office for Mac is currently still a 2008 product, and while I don’t use it myself, I’m sure there are some updates due for that software. Perhaps the plans just fell through as Microsoft got distracted and too caught up in the Windows 7 and Zune HD product launches. Whatever the reason is, it is certainly interesting to see such a large name missing from that list after having committed to it nearly a year ago.

Another big company missing from the list is Adobe, makers of the popular Creative Suite design package. While they certainly dominate the photo editing space with Photoshop, they have seen recent competition from Mac focused applications such as Acorn and Pixelmator. For that reason, I would think that they would want to make their return to the expo to show why their software is still better. However, I also get the feeling that they, too, may no longer see the point, especially considering they’ve been known to skip the Expo even when Apple has been present. After all, their software is already a household name, so perhaps they just don’t see the point in advertising it further at an event where everyone knows of it. Either that, or they, again, don’t have any products or updates to announce to make their presence worth it, either.

Also not on the list is Sonos, creator of iPod focused multi-room speaker systems. With their recent launch of the ZonePlayer S5, the absence of this company makes me really feel for Macworld and where it may be heading. An event like this would be perfect for a company like Sonos to appear, in my opinion. With hardware such as Sonos’ and software such as Adobe’s not on the expo floor, the event will certainly be lacking some of the big players in the Mac marketplace. Gaming, for instance, is not represented at all. Although there’s been a slow drift away from Macworld, regulars such as Freeverse, Feral Interactive and Ambrosia have yet to commit.

It could be the absence of all of these companies is a sign of Macworld losing support after Apple left, or maybe exhibitors are holding out to see who else signs up or are awaiting better deals. While I certainly would love to see Macworld continue strong for many more years, it may be hard if these big name companies do indeed back out.

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Today at WWDC 2009, Apple removed the beta label from Safari 4 and released it for Leopard, Tiger, and Windows. This finalized version of the browser includes Top Sites, as well as other new features that make browsing the web easier. Also, Safari 4 will increase the speed of surfing the web. Apple has claimed that users will notice that Safari renders JavaScript 7.8 times faster than Internet Explorer 8 and 5X faster than Chrome. It was also noted in the keynote that it passes the Acid3 test, whereas IE8 only gets 21%. There was also the usual bashing of IE8 as a browser that doesn’t adhere to web standards.

Safari 4 will be included with Snow Leopard and will take advantage of the 64-bit backend that will be in that version of the operating system. One of the new features that will be available on the Snow Leopard version of Safari 4 is Crash Resistance. This will help to make the application more reliable, especially when dealing with plug-ins. There is also the cover flow view of web history, and Top Sites lets you know when a site has updated.

Follow this and more updates at our WWDC Keynote live blog.

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

The organizers of Macworld, IDG, have set the dates for the Macworld Conference and Expo: February 9th - 13th, 2010. The significant detail here is the month. Macworld has always been in January, but as a result of exhibitors and attendee’s comments, February was considered a better month—offering more time to prepare products and demonstrations.

At Macworld 2009, Apple stated it would be their last appearance at the Expo, which left many people wondering what would be left of the event. According to the organizers, Macworld 2010 is more focused on the community of Mac users and developers, in particular iPhone developers. Naturally, it will feel a smaller event, with the Expo floor using only one of two available halls at the Moscone Center. The conference will remain in the West building, while the Expo will only use the North hall, rather than both the North and South. While using less floor space, the North hall will be filled with independent developers and companies showcasing their best Apple-related tech.

Making the event smaller could prove to be a great advantage. It creates a space where developers can meet users and other developers and present their latest ideas and share thoughts. With the emphasis next year on the Apple community, it already looks to be a brilliant event—over 10,000 people have already registered, since entrance to the Expo-only will be free. Another advantage for the community of users and developers are the dates. Running from the Thursday through Sunday, it offers people the weekend to turn up, if escaping from work early isn’t an option.

Macworld Conference & Expo 2010, San Francisco Moscone Center, February 9th - 13th 2010. What are you waiting for? Macworld has always been a great time for developers and users, offering exhibitors a few more weeks to perfect their ideas can only make things better.

Full Story » | Written by Ed Parry for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

PCMag reported late last week that the CEA has announced they’ve sold out their section devoted to the “Mac” for CES 2010. The iLounge Pavilion, as CES is calling it, sold out in one week, so CES had to quadruple the size to accommodate the demand.

The speed at which the CEA has managed to fill the area—devoted to manufacturers of iPod and iPhone accessory manufacturers—has surely signaled that, at the very least, Macworld Expo 2010 will be a stripped-down, stark contrast to its predecessors…

4,000 square feet was initially designated for the space. The CEA has since expanded the area to 18,000. The organization has also announced a handful of vendors that will exhibiting in the area, including Griffin Technology, Mobis Technology, Pro Clip USA, Scosche, and Incase Designs.

Can the demise of Macworld, which is traditionally held the same week as CES, be far behind?

And so, the PC web vultures have already starting circling.

A couple things that Brian Heater, writer of the article, gets wrong are that CES is not selling “Mac space.” The iLounge is set up specifically for iPhone/iPod accessory/software developers. This has nothing to do with the Mac. Also, it’s certainly not uncommon for developers to exhibit at both shows, which any of the examples provided by Brian could certainly do. In fact, Griffin, Scosche and Mobis did that this year, so the announcement that they’ll be at CES in 2010 doesn’t really mean anything…yet.

There’s certainly trouble ahead, after all, and it’s likely that most iPhone/iPod exhibitors will abandon a smaller Macworld Expo for the larger crowds of CES. I’ll be curious to see how the extra foot traffic will play out for those who leave Macworld for CES. Will the larger number of attendees lead to better sales and brand recognition, or will their products and announcements get buried under the vast array of competition at a show where people just aren’t really there to see what’s up next for the Apple devices? Likely, that’ll depend upon the vendor and their products.

Either way, this will likely leave us with Macworld that actually seems to focus on the, you know, Macintosh, but whether that’s enough to keep the show running past 2010, we’ll just have to wait and see. In the meanwhile, IDG has announced that general attendance for Macworld Expo 2010 will be free, and they’re already accepting attendee registrations. They’ve also set up a Macworld user community and are soliciting suggestions on how to make Macworld 2010 a better event. Feel free to sound off, but for the love of all that’s holy, let’s forgo the Macworld Texas suggestion, okay?

Via [PCMag]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

The best thing about attending Macworld Conference and Expo aside from mashed potatoes in martini glasses is discovering something on the show floor that you weren’t expecting. Being members of the media, we get a lot of invites to a lot of booths. But setting aside a day for exploration, you can find some really cool stuff you had no idea existed. Well…most of the time.

Jake Gaecke:

The most surprising thing about Macworld 2009 was the lack of announcements. Apple basically turned the gears a few times and pushed out a couple of obvious updates, and many companies followed suit by not having anything to announce. I mean sure, there were a number of products that were updated, like EyeTV and Parallels. And there were some announcements of future features like Eye-Fi’s video uploading and their iPhone app, and Delicious Monster’s iPhone apps as well.

But let’s be honest; for the most part, announcements like these are a little unexciting because we’ve been tainted by their previous awesomeness. All of these things are great, but they don’t blow me away. If you’re anything like me, then you live on new products, or features that only exist in your dreams. That didn’t happen at Macworld this year (with the possible exception of the ModBook Pro). I wasn’t left speechless anywhere on the floor, and I’m a little bit sad as a result. That’s why the only thing that surprised me at this year’s Macworld was that I wasn’t surprised by much of anything at all.

Kirk Hiner

I partially agree with Jake, but my expectations were a bit lower to begin with. I tend to lean more heavily towards the software for what I consider to be the good finds; I recall being floored by the functionality of Toon Boom Studio way back when I first saw it at a Macworld Expo New York, the first floor demo I saw of Boinx’s iStopMotion was pretty wild. Because the exhibits this year leaned so heavily towards iPhone/iPod apps and gadgets, however, there was just less to be impressed by. And so, my pick is based entirely on sight. The “cool” factor, really. It’s Starking’s Dragon I music and video station for iPod, iTouch and MacBook.

I didn’t even get to hear them, and wouldn’t have been able to over the show floor noise (they’re only 5W per speaker), but they’re just so cool looking that the design stuck with me well after I returned from San Francisco. Reminiscent of War of the Worlds, the speakers can hover over your MacBook like UFOs, provided you’re willing to hide an iPod dock back there. But they can be positioned however you like, within reason, allowing you to not only get a look you prefer, but also giving you the ability to place position them for the best sound. And because of their flexibility, they can be adjusted to work on your computer desk, in a den, in the kitchen…wherever you listen to your iPod. It’s an approach to speaker design and placement I’ve never seen before, which is why it made such an impact.

I just hope they sound as good as they look.

Bill Stitler:

The most surprising product I saw was probably the ModBook, something that truly qualifies as Sci Fi in terms of “wow” factor. Realistically I have no use for it—I’m a writer, not an illustrator, and I’d rather have a really nice keyboard than a smudged-up monitor—but that doesn’t negate the fact that the Modbook is a beautiful piece of engineering.

• Also see Appletell’s favorite gadgets of Macworld Expo 2009.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

It’s been a while now since Macworld Expo ended, and we’ve since seen a MacBook update that probably should’ve been in the keynote, and heard more news on the health of Steve Jobs. Thinking past this back to the show, and having finally dug through all the product materials we collected, the Appletell writers who were at Moscone have finally been able to select their favorite products of the 2009 expo.

Jake Gaecke:

My favorite newly announced product of the show has to be, without a doubt, the ModBook Pro by Axiotron. On paper, it truly is the biggest and best tablet made…period. In real life, the case is the most sturdy case I’ve ever had the pleasure of holding. I’m not even sure if Axiotron knows what the words flex or bend mean, because the ModBook Pro certainly doesn’t know how to do either of those things. Many Apple fanboys have been asking Apple for a MacBook Touch. This product exists, and it’s amazing. It’s called the ModBook Pro, and it’s the tablet Apple should have made.

Beyond just the tablet interface, the independent touch functionality, the stunning case design, the vastly improved handwriting recognition—I could go on and on—are the people at Axiotron. I stopped by the Axiotron booth several times; once to see the press release with the Woz, once to talk with Monica Ballin and once to sit down with CEO Andreas Has. Each time I visited, I couldn’t help but smile the entire time. These people are doing amazing things and they love it just as much as we the end users do. And how could you not feel like you’re instantly best buddies with Andreas? He’s such a great guy. Really, there are way too many reasons to list as to why I think the ModBook Pro outshines almost everything at Macworld this year. If only everyone could afford to own a ModBook Pro, though you get what you pay for.

Kirk Hiner

Unlike years past, it was difficult for me to decide upon one particular product as my favorite this year. I’d like to say it’s because there were too many from which to chose, but that wouldn’t be accurate. Rather, there just wasn’t a single product that caught me completely off guard. There were some gems, though, my favorite of which would have to be the Microvision Pico Projector.

This tiny device connects to your iPod or iPhone to project video on any surface. And when I say “any,” I mean “any.” Flat, curved, near, far, it doesn’t make much difference because the video is projected with lasers, so it’s always in focus. The image is bright and clear when the projector is close to whatever it’s being projected on, but does get dimmer (and bigger, obviously) as you pull away. In controlled light conditions, you can expand the projection to up to about 100” inches wide without washing it out too much. In your standard lit room, anything over about 32 inches becomes a little difficult to see. The only drawback to the Pico Projector is that it can’t handle iPod or iPhone games, as Apple doesn’t support video out from other apps. Well, there’s that drawback and the fact that it won’t be available in mass quantities until the second half of this year, and would cost about $500 if released now. Hopefully, they’ll get that price down by the time it’s released.

Bill Stiteler

I’m going to have to go with the herd on this one and say that Macworld Expo 2009 was a big yawn. There were a lot of good products there—notably cases for the iPhone—but if anyone was hoping for the Next Big Thing, they were sorely disappointed.

The best product I saw there was the introduction of Sling Player for the iPhone and iPod touch, one of several products that are bringing streaming television to the iPhone. But the advantage of Sling Player is that you can watch live TV, and if you want to watch a show you’ve already recorded on your DVR, you can simply watch it; there’s no need to figure out what you want to watch beforehand and upload it to another website. I’ll be anxious to see how good the feed is in real-world-internet conditions.

• Also see Appletell’s “most surprising” finds of Macworld Expo 2009.

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Did Apple pull the major announcement (the “one more thing”) from this year’s Macworld Expo keynote in anticipation of Steve Jobs’ health announcement?

My reasoning goes like this: First, Apple had something really cool to announce at Macworld Expo 2009. Something that would have taken up the big empty space at their booth. We heard rumors that after the Expo, Apple was going to announce a new Mac mini as well as something so big that the rest of the news would pale beside it. A Mac netbook? Opening the iPhone to other carriers? We couldn’t find out.

Now, Apple must have known that the lack of a truly big announcement at Macworld would send their stock down. So why not announce it then? Because Steve knew he was going to have to take a leave of absence, which was an even bigger downer. “The last hurrah,” they’d have called it: one last thing before Jobs leaves his company floundering for months! And then stock prices go down even further.

So, what if the plan was this: Take the hit from the keynote and from Jobs announcement. Let that play out in the press and then ta da! An announcement of both a new version of a popular product (Mac mini) and this “Next Big Thing” to boost confidence that Apple can run just fine sans Steve.

Pure speculation on my part, of course, but it’s hard to believe that even if Apple wanted Macworld Expo to die, they would squander a press opportunity like that one.

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Shortly after the update of the 17” MacBook Pro at this year’s Macworld and news that it will contain a longer life, non user replaceable battery, Apple has published a support article that can help users when the time to replace their battery comes. According to details from this article, the replacement price will be $179 if the battery is out of its one year warranty period. When it comes time to actually replace the battery, it can surprisingly be done in one day at an Apple store if you schedule an appointment. If you choose to send it in, it will take 3-4 business days after your shipment.

With it taking only one day to replace the battery at an Apple Store, it kind of got me wondering how hard it could possibly be. Although Apple may have certified workers and special tools for the process at each store, one day isn’t long at all, especially considering the unibody design of the machine. However, even if us customers could find a way to do it ourselves, it doesn’t appear as if Apple will be selling batteries by themselves. Any thoughts?

Via [Apple Support]

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

The last Macworld Expo I attended was in 2004. It was my first in San Francisco, as New York had previously been my beat. But even on the other side of the continent, it still felt familiar to me. It still felt like a Macworld Expo. The iPod was still fairly new, there was no iPhone, and people were there to hear about the Macintosh.

Macworld Conference and Expo is now a different beast, and by beast, I mean that little duck from Wonder Pets with the annoying voice.

Actually, that’s a bit harsh. Macworld was still fun this year. There were many great products to see and some wonderful people to meet. But it felt different. It felt like Queen with Paul Rodgers on lead vocals. It felt like Timothy Dalton as James Bond.

Opening With the Finale

The change could have happened anywhere between now and January 2004, but it was immediately obvious. At the beginning of Phil Schiller’s keynote (certainly a change there, but not necessarily relevant to the focus of the whole show), he basically said, and this is not a direct quote, “Well, we’re at Macworld, so what the hell…let’s talk about this Macintosh thing.” It’s like it was the night before the keynote, and Phil suddenly remembered, “Oh yeah, I’ve got to give a speech tomorrow. Crap. What to say…what to say…”

The iWork and iLife updates Phil showed us were pretty cool, and yeah, I’m a pretty big fan of John Fogerty. John Fogerty can make just about anything worth watching…except Grey’s Anatomy. For a brief moment, I thought John was going to appear onstage and lead us all in a rousing rendition of “Around the Bend,” “Bad Moon Rising,” or some other Macworld 2009 appropriate song…like “Eye of the Zombie,” maybe. But no, instead, we got Tony Bennett, who may be the only living singer older than John Fogerty. When Apple talks about the iPhone or iPod, they bring out young John Mayer, because the ladies dig him. When they discuss the Macintosh, they bring out a guy who, when I searched for a graphic of him, showed up on www.todaysseniorsnetwork.com in the top three results. Dude can still go, though, I’ll give him that, and I’ll certainly take him over John Mayer.

But okay, so Apple wants to shaft IDG with a keynote of minor press release material, at best. Fine. We get that Apple no longer needs the Expo. What I wasn’t expecting, though, is that so many of the exhibitors no longer need the Expo either, apparently.

Standing In for Macintosh Programs In Tonight’s Performance Will Be…

Even the night before, I was surprised at how many of the participants in the ShowStoppers event weren’t Macintosh companies. There were iPhone app developers and laptop bag manufacturers and iPod case manufacturers and mashed potatoes in a martini glass, but where were all the Macintosh software developers? I guess at the Expo, right?

Not really. Well, I mean, yes, of course there were quite a few, but the ratio of Mac developers to accessory manufacturers and iPhone app developers was unsettling. This wasn’t a Macworld Expo, it was a gadget expo. It was a consumer electronics exp…oh.

That feeling hung in the air throughout the show like all the garlic I ate at the Stinking Rose on Thursday evening. I talked to many developers about their plans for next year, and no one seemed thrilled about returning to a Macworld Expo without Apple. It’s understandable, I guess. I mean, who wants to go a party if Louie won’t be there?

Actually, I think Louie may be a better choice for next year’s keynote speaker than David Pogue, but I’ll address that at another time.

Anyway, one developer of iPod/iPhone cases told me representatives from CES were on the floor that day, trying to talk people out of Macworld Expo in 2010 and signing up for CES instead. I could almost picture them slinking around in black trench coats, twirling their waxed mustachios, enticing gadget accessory manufacturers with bags of money that have dollar symbols painted on the side. And sadly, it appears to be working. This developer admitted that, because of CES’s lower rates and higher volume of attendees, he’d probably take them up on that.

IDG’s going to be facing a lot of this in the coming months. Even this year, with Apple still around, I talked to many company reps on Tuesday who were about to split for Las Vegas. Quite a few of my meetings later in the week weren’t with my usual company contacts, but with someone else because my contacts were at CES. It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for consumer electronics and gadget accessory companies to split their week accross two shows. If they’ve been looking for an excuse to quite one of them, this is it.

The Show (Floor) Must Go On

So, what will that leave us with for next year? I’d like to say a bigger ratio of Mac software developers who can’t move to CES, but even that doesn’t appear to be true. Many of them have stated they may just pull altogether, and aren’t biting on IDG’s deal offering companies who sign on now the ability pull after 90 days if they feel IDG’s not going to be able to pack the Moscone. In an effort to get this started, IDG held a Macworld Expo Town Hall to solicit ideas for Macworld 2010. It felt a bit more like an AA meeting than anything else—“Hi. My name’s Fred Dogcow, and this is my 12th Macworld Expo.” (Polite applause.)—but maybe that was the point. Some suggestions were obvious (get the show the hell out of January), some were absurd (Macworld Expo Texas?). We at Appletell had two pretty brilliant suggestions, we thought, but felt it best not to offer them at that time.

1. Booth babes.
2. Bring back Apple.

Even if our suggestions don’t fly, I believe there will be a Macworld Expo next year. Granted, I also believed eating a bowl full of heated garlic and oil wouldn’t make my stomach perform Cirque du Soleil style acrobatics the next day, so what do I know?

Throughout this year, we’ll undoubtedly be talking quite a bit about Macworld Expo. There’s going to be plenty of change—there has to be plenty of change—and I’m curious to see how Mac users and developers are able to drive that. Will the show return to the halcyon days of the Macintosh die-hards, or will it be turned over to a new generation of earbud wearing Apple fanboys? I guess we have a year to figure that out. All I know for certain is that wherever Macworld Expo ends up, just like Louie, and with apologies to The State, I’ll be there to “... dip my balls in it.”

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Face recognition. Wow. We have the same—if not better—technology as the local police station. How freakin’ cool is that? iPhoto is groundbreaking in the fact that you can train it to recognize someone’s face and know where you took the picture. Let me introduce you to Faces and Places.

Faces is the term apple has coined to describe a breathtaking new feature for your iPhoto software. What it does is allow you to group your photos together by who is in them. This is simply amazing, and it is only going to get better in the future. Yes, this first attempt will take a lot of user input, but when you’re done teaching your Mac who everyone is, you will be able to upload a photo and have it get filed away neatly with all the other photos of Tommy.

Yes, if you have two people in the photo, the photo gets filed under both of them or all three or four or however many faces can fit in a photo. Unfortunately, from all the information I have been able to gather, it does not work really great out-of-the-box. People who have had their hands on iPhoto ‘09 are saying it needs a lot of user input for small objects such as toddlers and small adolescent children. It will not work with pets or babies, and one would have to assume that as your children grow you will need to update the software accordingly.

The way it is supposed to work when you install iPhoto ‘09 and run faces for the first time, is that you pick a photo and it will identify the faces in it. You then type the name of the face in a box just below the face. Apple says to do it in a “few” photos and iPhoto will do the rest of the library for you. A few? I wonder if I am going to have to tag half of the 10,000 photos in my library or just 4 or 5. Let’s hope it is reasonable.

Places is the label for iPhoto’s newfound ability to organize your photos via a Geotag. If you have GPS enabled camera, or an iPhone, you can theoretically take a photo of the Eiffel Tower with your iPhone, upload it to flickr, Facebook, or Mobileme, and instantly your friends and family can make a couple of clicks and know your exact location and can see what you see. Places is going to require more user input than faces.

In order for places to work, you have to assign an area on the map, and iPhoto can then put a photo that you take in that geographic area to the name you designate for that area. Basically I would have to manually tag all 10,000 of my photos. Not going to happen. What I will do, however, is tag any new photos that I have so I can create a cross country album by state when I ride my motorcycle across the country next summer.

Apple and technology. What’s next? Online live video streaming from your iPhone? We are a firmware update away from it, people. Apple never ceases to amaze me. Love or hate them, they are the absolute standard for innovation.

Full Story » | Written by Anthony Parkinson for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Okay, that’s not entirely true. The dental pick part is, but not the destruction of Macworld. Apple took care of that by its own self, thank you very much. Rather, while watching a demo of how DriveSavers rescues data from damaged hard drives, Jake was selected to be the one to cause the damage. Check out the video to see just how bad your drive actually looks when you hear that clicking sound and find yourself face to screen with that dreaded question mark.

Chris Bross of DriveSavers presented “Dr. Data’s Hard Drive Failure Demonstration” at their booth at Macworld Conference and Expo. The presentation provided a “... cleanroom engineer’s perspective on the inner workings of a hard disk drive ...”

View the video below to see a good disk drive, and a “Jake picked” drive. The damage is actually pretty dramatic when it occurs, and it offers pretty good insight into how hard drives work, and how they’re destroyed.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

By now, it’s old news that Apple will no longer be participating in Macworld, one of the biggest Mac focused conference events around. The concrete reason from Apple for this unexpected dropout is nonexistent, making it hard for many of us loyal Mac users to know why they have decided to stop. However, when Apple leaves something open to interpretation from their customers, that is exactly what is going to happen. The following reasons are a couple potential causes for Apple’s “abandonment” of Macworld.

• Could Apple be moving on to bigger, better events? - If you have heard of Macworld, you have most likely heard of the Consumer Electronic Show (CES), which runs at the same time as Macworld.  This event that takes place in Las Vegas attracts 1,700 companies from all over the world every year, making it a boiling pot for new technology.  Knowing Apple has stepped out of Macworld, could they possibly believe it’s time for the company to hop on the CES bandwagon?  Apple has grown a lot these past few years, and I believe the company is ready to make an appearance at such a large event.  That, and it would be really interesting to have two Stevenotes at one event.
• Apple doesn’t need Macworld anymore to announce products - When Apple was a smaller company, they could take great advantage of all the press coverage of Macworld.  However, now that they are much larger with many more products, they don’t necessarily need Macworld to announce a new product.  They can either do it on their own time or even take advantage of CES in the coming years, if they want.  Either way, people will hear about it.

There are plenty more reasons out there that could be just as probable as these, as no one is really sure beyond what Apple has publicly stated. However, both of these reasons seem to be the most prominent in the current news. What are your thoughts? Why has Apple left Macworld?

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

iWeb, iMovie, Garageband and iPhoto have all been upgraded. These are the applications that comprise the iLife suite. If you own a Mac, chances are you use one or more of these applications just about every day. Apple seems to be updating the software with new features about once a year, and this year everything gets a major improvement or two. Some of these new features are very powerful tools that are actually used by law enforcement (Faces). Kinda cool that we can use face recognition at home now. So, lets get to it.

iWeb did not get any major upgrades this year, but did get a few new features that are worth talking about. The Facebook users out there will love the fact that you can link your site to your Facebook account and can then let your friends know when you have updated your site. For the hardworking web designer, you can now manage multiple sites in iWeb. Each site will have its own menu and can be published individually at different times. I know people who have wished for that functionality for years. Wish granted. Other than that, not whole lot new going on in iWeb 09’.

iMovie got several major changes and several new features. Pretty major overhaul, if you ask me. Drag and drop got way cool. Now you can drag and drop a clip into a clip. Also they have added a green screen and a cutaway effect. I know there are people out there like me who have trouble getting our clips to line up just right. Enter the precision editor. This is a magnified film strip of the clips you’re working with so you can see exactly where they end/begin. You can also edit audio and video independently, so you can use the sound from one clip with the video from another. This is some serious film editing here people.

Imagine the astronomical amount of money a Windows user would have to pay to get this kind of power. $79? I am already sold, and we haven’t even gotten to Garageband or iPhoto. Back to iMovie. They have added a feature called animated travel maps. This gives you the ability to add a 3D flight plan to a movie. iMovie 09’ also has a new video stabilization feature. What it allows you to do is have the application scan your clips (all or one at a time) for camera movement. It then can stabilize the picture for you. This is undoable, however, if you want the effect. iMovie ’09 introduces 18 new animated titles, 19 new one-click video effects, and eight new transitions. The last notable new feature is the ability to browse your movies full screen. This will allow you to watch your videos without making a movie if you don’t want to. I can’t wait to use this application.

Garageband got its hair done, and nails done too. Not only can you record any instrument in a near professional manner, but Apple has decided to teach you how to play a guitar or piano, too. They only thing you have to do is write the masterpiece and take the nine basic lessons for the guitar or piano. You can even have artists give you lessons if you like. Sting, Fallout Boy, and John Fogerty are just a few of the artists who have provided some insight into their world of music. Amateur guitarists such as myself will have the most fun with the new version of Grageband. They have added amp modeling to the long list of tools at your disposal. Nice. I use Gearbox for my amp modeling, and it has a lag. Not a big one, but just enough to notice. I have to assume that an amp and cabinet set up right inside Garageband will not suffer from this annoying issue. Apple is claiming 30 complete rigs. I’m sure there are going to be good ones and bad ones, but it only takes one good one.

The last notable feature is Magic Garageband “Jam.” What this does is turn your Mac into a full screen full customizable band. Sounds like fun to me. They could have taken functions away from Garageband, and will still use it heavily. I’m glad they didn’t do that.

iPhoto got the coolest new feature of them all. Faces. Face recognition for the common man? Are you serious? This is stuff that is used at the FBI, CIA, and any other agency that hunts people. You can even create smart albums much the way you would in iTunes with LP names. My guess is that real world, iPhoto will need a moderate amount of user input for Faces to work well, but I can tell you that I am going to find the limitations out of sheer curiosity. The powers that be have also added a places feature to iPhoto 09’. Places is only going to be used by people with a GPS enabled camera or an iPhone. This is because the only way it will work otherwise is for you to go through your entire library and tag each photo manually with location information. I have 10,000 photos. I am not going to tag them. If you do decide to tag them, you can then search by location or keyword.

Themed slideshows is another cool feature. It has six themes that let you create beautiful slideshows in seconds. So, for you social-lights, Facebook is now integrated into iPhoto, and you can create a details map of where you have been. Let’s not forget the additional edit capabilities. iPhoto rocks hard.

Well that just about covers it. More horsepower, better gas mileage,  and more towing capacity, and all for only $79. You can’t beat that deal with a stick. I will be pre ordering. What do you think of the new stuff?

Product [iLife ‘09]

Full Story » | Written by Anthony Parkinson for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

BeejiveIM has recently announced the availability of their newest update to their instant messaging app for the iPhone. This app has a ton of features for IMers on the go, and can almost replicate the functionality of a desktop app.

Let’s start with services. It supports AIM, MSN, Yahoo, MySpace, GoogleTalk, ICQ, and Jabber, to name a few. Plus, after talking with the developers, they’re working on incorporating Facebook chat as well into a future update.

BeejiveIM now also supports file transfers. You can send and receive files that are supported normally by iPhone: pictures, videos, PDFs, MS Office documents, etc. You can even record a voice note and send it to your IM buddies. Now, if only they could add the option for full on voice chat. Other apps are doing it, so I’m guessing it’s possible in a future update.

Plus there are customization options included. One of those options is the choice of different notification sounds (more than just the default sounds for each service).

One thing that that the Beejive app doesn’t come with is their booth babes. Did I just think of a way to save Macworld?

Kai Yu, founder and CEO of Beejive about the app, said, “We created BeejiveIM to address the lack of reliable, user-friendly instant messaging applications available to mobile users. The fact that we were widely viewed as the top social networking app of 2008 demonstrates what a need there was for such a service. Now, with BeejiveIM 2.0, we are able to offer iPhone users a rich collaboration platform, where they can do everything from exchange their favorite MP3s to get a colleague a needed PDF in seconds flat. We are excited to see what our BeejiveIM community will accomplish with these new tools.”

The app is available on the App Store now for $14.99.

Product [BeejiveIM]

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Most people are aware that the 2MP camera on the iPhone isn’t the best at taking photos, especially if there is a lot of movement or the area is dark. However, if you hold it still enough in the right light, the photos can actually be quite clear for a camera on a phone. One of the bad things about the camera, however, is the extremely limited functionality it has. For example, Apple doesn’t allow you to zoom, take video, or do almost anything. That’s where USB Fever steps in with their iPhone lenses. These products may not be the greatest around, but they do offer some pretty interesting functionality.

USB Fever is offering three detachable lenses for your iPhone that connect magnetically after you add an adhesive metal ring around your iPhone camera. The frame of these lenses is made of “top-grade Aluminuim” while the glass is “high-class.” The first lens cost $19.99 and brings the fish-eye style to the iPhone. This 170 degree lens weighs only 10.8 grams and can give your camera a nice new effect. The next lens is the wide angle lens which costs only $16.99. This product will do just what it implies, give your images a wide angle. The last lens is also $16.99 and is being called the telephoto 2X zoom lens (it’s fairly obvious what this one does). For such a cheap price, they might be worth checking out. What do you think?

Products [Fish-Eye Lens, Wide Angle Lens, Telephoto (2X) Lens]

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Now that the crowds have died down a bit, I was able to spend a little more hands-on time with the new 17” Macbook Pro. The screen is a thing of beauty, but then, I like the glossy screen and the saturation it gives the colors.

As the owner of a 17” G4 Powerbook, I’ll say this: the Macbook Pro feels smaller, more compact, though that’s probably just a matter of it having a very thin, almost air-like screen. It’s a hair thinner than the previous design, but the tapered edges give it a razor-like feel.

It weighs a bit less than the G4 powerbook, but at 6.6 pounds, it’s still going to be a brick to carry around. Think long and hard about how badly you need that big screen, and how often you’ll need to be portable.

For those of you who love a good, tactile feel to the keyboard: you’re out of luck. These are the flat keys that are standard on the Macbook. They have a nice bounce to them, but the concave keys of the old Powerbook line that scratched up many a screen appear to be a thing of the past.

Here’s a short video showing off the 17” Macbook Pro’s physicality.

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Disappointed by Apple’s Keynote announcements? Me too. We were all expecting something in the way of hardware that wasn’t completely obvious (i.e. the 17” MacBook Pro). Well, we received some potentially good news. While discussing the fate of the expo with a long-time Macintosh software developer, we received a tip from someone in the know about Apple’s coming plans, and it seems that those plans involve a big finger to Macworld.

The tip goes like this. Apple is planning on updating the Mac Mini very soon, and that update won’t be it’s death. In fact, it’s most likely ready as you read this, and could have been announced at Macworld. But instead of announcing it here, Apple held back, seemingly in an effort to prove that they don’t need Macworld. The announcement could come as soon as two weeks. But, as much as I want a new Mac Mini, that’s not the juice in this tip.

Apparently, Apple also has a “huge” announcement that will make the Mac Mini news pale in comparison to the other half of this rumor. Unfortunately, that’s all we know. Our source, who says he heard this directly from Apple reps at this week’s Expo, wouldn’t tell him more than that, but he finds this particularly peculiar. He has had Apple reps slip information to him before, but not this freely. This info, he says, was offered straight off without any questioning, as if it isn’t a secret, but is. He believes Apple is purposely letting this information slip in an effort to further prove the company doesn’t need the Macworld Conference and Expo, and to immediately start generating interest in their own event and to build bigger news than what’s coming from the Moscone Center this week. If this is true, it’s working.

Apple will more than likely be holding a special event shortly for the two big announcements; the first is the Mac Mini, to which Apple expects to you… excuse me… yawn.  The second is in true Apple style, completely a secret. But it’s gigantic and will make your mouth drop in a way that doesn’t involve yawning. Stay tuned, things should be heating up shortly.

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Ask almost anyone who attended the Macworld keynote this year what they thought of it and you probably won’t get a very great response. With no Steve Jobs, the keynote was almost bound to not be as great as the past few years. However, not only did Phil take the place of Steve, but there weren’t any outstanding new product announcements.  The only real hardware announcement was the new 17” MacBook Pro. So, do we have a right to be angry with Apple for a “mediocre” keynote? I don’t think so at all. Read on to find out why.

You would be correct in saying that Apple didn’t release anything all that groundbreaking at this keynote, as with the iPhone and such from past years. However, you can’t really blame them. The economy isn’t all that great right now, and people aren’t as willing to spend money. Apple realizes this, and, in my opinion, is extremely able to coast on some of the amazing products they currently have. By not announcing a new product, they can spend more time and money developing and improving their current ones, something everyone can appreciate.

And can you really say there weren’t any great announcements? The innovation that was brought forward in the new iLife ‘09 software was outstanding. Think about it. Both Places and Faces in the new iPhoto take advantage of two things that people love to do with their photos. And to have this built in to $79 software is a great feat, if you ask me. Not only that, but iPhoto now takes advantage of Flickr and Facebook, two of the most popular photo sites. It doesn’t stop there, though. iMovie ‘09 offers some groundbreaking image stabilization algorithms that will make editing video even more fun and easy. And people are complaining there wasn’t anything great?

In my opinion, we Apple fanboys have been spoiled in the last couple years with great new announcements to spend our money on. This year, we should be just as happy. Although there is no new iPhone or Mac Mini, the software we use everyday on these machines has been greatly improved.  That’s just as important as the hardware can be.

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Why are you looking at a big, gray, empty space? Good question: maybe we should ask Apple.

Small correction: the side of Apple’s booth that I say is iPods is actually more iMacs. The iPods were on the other side.

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

That’s one way to say “cancelled.” Okay, I’m done.

Wednesday at 5:00, IDG held a town hall meeting at Macworld Conference and Expo to discuss the future of the annual event. Paul Kent started the townhall meeting by talking about what Macworld is. You already know it’s not like a typical trade show. Macworld is about users coming together. IDG has been doing Macworld for 25 years now. When the Mac was born, they had a Macworld. Up until now, they’ve endured. But what about the future? What does 2010+ hold in store?

Well let’s talk about what Macworld has to offer now. Even with the current economy, there are over 500 exhibitors. 90% of the products here aren’t available at any Apple Store location. Plus, you can learn new things, see new products and try out things you couldn’t try anywhere else.  Where else can you go to talk to the developer of an app face to face?  Or the maker of a product?  I’ve heard from exhibitors that it’s great for networking between companies.  Why travel all over the country, or even the world, during the year when everyone comes together for Macworld anyway?

IDG isn’t dumb; they know that if they can’t provide a good enough reason for exhibitors and visitors to come, then they won’t.  They’re starting with exhibitor preregistration for next year. HP, Microsoft (what!?), FastMac, Shure and Intuit are already among the 60 companies that have signed on the dotted line that they intend to exhibit next year. David Pogue intends to give the Anti-Keynote, and as far as I’m concerned, if David Pogue is involved, I’m interested.

Alex Lindsay stood up to give his opinion on the future of Macworld. He considers Macworld attendees to be the nucleus of the Mac community. Basically, he wants to make it easier for visitors to connect with each other. But so much more needs to be done.

Overall, IDG is taking ideas from everyone. They’re working on it, and they’re listening.  So what did visitors voice about what they want?

• An easy way to communicate ideas to IDG after today.
• Video previews for conferences before you buy access.
• A Mac users social network, and impromptu user meet ups.
• Bring back Macworld Boston, New York, Texas (more central and possibly cheaper) or other cities. How about more than one Macworld each year? Paul Kent took the feedback, and struggled with an answer, but then it came. They’re committed to MWSF ‘10, but after next year, IDG says, “When you want it, where you want it.”
• More Mac gaming!  There needs to be more games and Macs set up here on a network so attendees can frag each other while screaming “newb!” all day long.
• User group meetups.  They held the community together for a long time.  It needs to be more valuable for them to come.
• Bring in the best of the best in every area for training sessions.
• Schwag area.  An area for trading of schwag between visitors.  Why stop there?  How about you guys just give us tons of stuff for free?

After hearing all of this, and experiencing Macworld, I don’t think there’s anyone who’s been here who doesn’t want to come back.  I know I want to come back, but I’m afraid that if Apple isn’t here it will be quite different.  Only time will tell, but I’m not all that optimistic about the future of Macworld Expo, and it makes me sad.

IDG needs to do a lot of things to keep Macworld alive. A popular opinion in the Town Hall and amongst developers with whom we spoke is that Macworld Expo needs to bring in more gaming companies. Not only does Macworld need more games, but the Mac in general.  IDG needs to bring back the gaming area.  Make it LAN style and just let people play.  There also needs to be more computer areas in general where you can learn tips and tricks one on one, or even just play around.

Registration for next year starts now.  Exhibitors can register now with a 90 day window to decide if they are actually coming (expect somewhat fuzzy inflated numbers).  Exhibit Only passes will be free, so your trip to Macworld may be just a little cheaper.  And if you’re a local, close to free.  They’re going to talk to educators, gamers and everyone else.  They want everyone to come.

IDG also wants to hear your suggestions.  You can send those ideas to .

You can expect a lot more suggestions and commentary on this within the coming weeks at Appletell, and, indeed, the year to come.

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Appletell’s made no secret of our big girly crush on Smule, makers of the Ocarina app, along with a slew of iPhone apps that combine interactivity with connecting people from around the world. So, it was with no small amount of excitement that I headed over to their Macworld Expo booth to speak with Ge Wang, CTO and Co-founder of Smule.

He explained Smule’s design philosophy: “Smule” is a “sonic mule,” which works to bring people together on their iPhone apps but does it anonymously. So, you can see the people flicking their Sonic Lighters across the globe, or you can hear someone in Japan playing the Ocarina, but you’ll never know who that person is. They’re building a social network of people who communicate through music. And it’s working; Wang estimates that they have over half a million Ocarina users around the world.

I asked Wang to describe their newest app, Zephyr, in which an iPhone user traces out a message in snow. Without missing a beat he described it as a chain letter—it’s designed to be passed from user to user, showing not just the final message, but the way the message was stroked out on the iPod screen—the human element.

Try as I might, I couldn’t squeeze any future product announcements out of the Smule team, although they told me they did have more coming down the road. Then I started crying, and the entire Smule team offered to calm me down with a live rendition of “Stairway to Heaven” using their signature app.

Product [Smule]

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

With all the product announcements (including Apple’s yawner of a Keynote) and the noise and color of the convention floor, it’s easy to forget that MacWorld Expo is also a conference, a place for people to come and learn about the programs that make the Mac a creative tool for so many people. From multi-day panels for industry professionals to Creative Safaris for new users, there’s a range of programs, including the one I signed up for: the Maclab for Final Cut Pro Workflows.

When I signed up for the MacLabs at Macworld Expo 2009, I was excited by the possibility of spending two hours, hands-on, learning tricks and tips about how to unlock the powerful secrets of Final Cut Pro. Secrets that they didn’t want me to know! It didn’t quite work out that way. At the end of the class, I was in possession of three cool tricks that will definitely save time when I go back to editing, but a combination of technical glitches and user inexperience made me feel like I got more of a taste than a meal.

First off, let me say that the instructor obviously knew his stuff. The problem was with the format of the lab itself: two hours devoted not just to Final Cut Pro—a major program in itself—but to Motion and Soundtrack. Added into this mix of three separate professional-level applications, you have a mix of people of “all experience levels.” That was where the trouble started, because it became quickly apparent that some people needed to be taught how to import movie files and place them on the timeline, which is the most basic function of FCP. We spent half an hour (out of a two hour class) covering information that you should know if you use FCP at all. Frustrating.

Once we were past that point, the Maclab started to take off and we were shown a really cool tip: how to create reusable text templates in Motion, something I’m sure will be a major timesaver. I say we were “shown” the Motion effect however, rather literally: whomever had set up the iMacs in the room had installed the entire FCP suite…except Motion. Clearly peeved, the instructor demonstrated the process, we jotted down notes, and moved on.

Next was Soundtrack, and we moved quickly through two extremely useful tips: how to copy and paste ambient noise over a sound glitch (rather than the way to which I was familiar; using the razor tool to cut the sound out and then finagle a bit of room noise into the blank space), and how to time stretch sound in order to make it longer or shorter—without changing the pitch. Two extremely useful tips.

And that was time—two hours had flown by and we hadn’t even touched on Color or DVD menus, both of which had been mentioned in the course description. We got lucky though, as the instructor had DVDs left over from his Power Tools class containing additional training for Final Cut, and I’m anxious to dive into it, free from distractions of people who don’t know where the Timeline is, or who want to know whatever tab in Soundtrack does, even if we’re not going to be using it (anyone who’s been at any conference will know who I mean).

In the end, I got some good tutorials about FCP, and, of course, the instructor pimped his site where we could find even more. But what I wanted out of the class—a feeling for how all the programs in the studio are integrated—was lacking.

Product [FinalCut]

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

I use Garageband 08’ quite a bit, as a casual guitarist. Garageband is not professional recording software but is excellent for people like me who don’t necessarily need to record more than 24 tracks simultaneously or need to adjust the audio on each of those tracks. Garageband is perfect for people who record on the weekends with their buddies in, well, the garage.

Classic Rock

My experience with Garageband has had its good points and has had some bad points. Let’s take multitrack recording for instance. This is a feature that was new to the 08’ version of Garageband. The idea behind it is that you can rerecord a portion of your track until you feel you have gotten it right. In theory, that is a really cool feature that a lot of people could use. The problem is how they implemented it. In order to to avoid a mistake or a pause in the recording where you don’t want one, you have to use the multitrack in an area between to pause. What I mean is that once you have the multitrack recording area set and you hit record, it will continue to make passes until you stop it manually. In the time it takes you to manually stop the recording you have a space of time with nothing recorded, and unless this is what you are trying to do, it can be very frustrating. There should be a pause after each pass to give the musician time to stop the recording if they want to. Beyond that, I wish there were more “metal” like drum loops, but I can’t fault Apple for that, and there are plenty available on the net.

Modern Rock

Now, let’s get to Garageband ‘09, which was announced this week in the Macworld Expo Keynote. The first thing I would like to talk about are the new Basic Lessons. Every musician can learn. No one is perfect. What I like about this idea is there are people out there like my niece who just picked up a guitar about a year ago, and could really use some lessons. I live 600 miles away and am not able to provide her with lessons, and I am hoping that Garageband 09’ will be good enough to help out. I, myself, would like to learn more about the piano, and the fact that you can speed up or slow down the lessons is something that can come in handy for people to who already know a little bit about guitar and piano. I really hope that Lessons turns out to be as good in implementation as it sounds in theory. There is also a twist. Some of Americas favorite artist have created custom lessons from themselves. Should be interesting to see who participates is lessons along with already announced artists such as Sting, Fall Out Boy, and John Fogerty.

Alt Rock

Let’s talk about guitar effects. Currently I use Gear Box from Line 6 to do all of my amp modeling. It works pretty, well minus a bit of delay when using it with Garageband. It is not bad enough that I can’t use it though. Gear Box offers hundreds of amp and cabinet combinations and also has models for bass and voice. Garageband 09’ is going to throw its hat into the amp modeling arena. I don’t have a list or anything that tells me what all of the models will be, so this is going to be a wait-and-see for me as to wether or not they did it right. I hope they did it right; if I can get rid of the minor delay with Gear Box, that would be totally cool with me. The Apple website claims to have over 30 rigs to choose from, which is kind of a small number compared to other software, but if they sound good you only need a few to write good music.

Jam Sessions

I love to jam. It is a very “free” feeling to pick up an instrument and just start playing; no worries about how well you’re doing, no worries about being perfect for the recording, no worries about being better than the people you’re jamming with. It’s just playing for the love of music. Enter Magic Garageband. Most of the time, when I sit down and pick up my electric guitar or bass, I fire up Magic Garageband and just jam out for a couple of hours. If I come up with something decent, I will record it. There are, however, a finite amount of combinations, and you will run out of new material at some point. Well, new in Garageband ‘09, “Jams” has been added to Magic Garageband. This offers more control over your backing band. You can change instruments, styles, and volume all from the full screen stage that will be in front of you. I, for one, am very excited about these new features.

All in all, I think this version of Garageband is going to be a major improvement to an already good product. I can wait to get my hands on it.

Product [GarageBand ‘09]

Full Story » | Written by Anthony Parkinson for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

For those of you who haven’t been living under a rock this past week, you’re aware of Apple’s new and improved iPhoto application that will come out with iLife ‘09 later this month. This update, which requires Leopard 10.5.6 or higher, brings a couple of exciting features such as Places and Faces (which are a nice addition to Events from the last version). These updates, as well as some other ones, will bring a lot more functionality to iPhoto, and I am really looking forward to this software. What exactly should you expect to see with this new software? Other than some improved editing features, there are some other major updates. Read on to find out.

New Features

Places: One of the hot new trends in the photography world is geo-tagging photos with the coordinates where they were taken. Some cameras now even come with GPS installed in them to help with this process. With the new iPhoto, you cannot only take advantage of this data that is embedded in your images, but iPhoto will automatically see it and show where it is on a nice graphical map. If you don’t have a GPS enabled camera or add on device, you can tag the photos yourself using a city name, address, or any other location. Apple describes this new feature as such:

Places automatically imports photo location data from a GPS-enabled camera or any iPhone or you can manually assign a location to any photo, group of photos or event. Once iPhoto knows where photos were taken, you can easily explore them with a simple search or an interactive map.

Faces: This new feature finds and scans human faces on imported photos based on face recognition technology. Once it scans a few examples of the same face with some helps from the user, it will automatically find the rest of the photos in the library that contain that face. If it is unsure, there is a process that allows users to confirm or deny whether or not the specific face in question does appear in that photo. With all of these scanned photos, iPhoto ‘09 creates new albums based on the people who appear in the photo to make it even easier to find them in your album. Here is Apple’s description:

iPhoto automatically scans photos to detect people’s faces and when you assign a name to any face iPhoto will automatically find more pictures of that person. The library can be searched by name or browsed using the new Faces View.

Online Sharing: If you use Flickr or Facebook at all, then you’re going to love the new iPhoto, which comes with integration with both of these. For Flickr, you can simply upload images straight from iPhoto now instead of having to use the web client or another piece of third party software such as Flickr Uploadr. Furthermore, the geo-tagging on these pictures will also be imported into Flickr. However, the Facebook part of this feature is more exciting. With the new Faces feature, uploaded images to Facebook automatically are tagged according to the Faces you have tagged in iPhoto. If anyone adds a tag to the photos you upload, they can automatically be synced back down to your local library, which can save a ton of time. Apple has this to say:

iPhoto ’09 lets you easily publish photos to Facebook or Flickr. Photos published to Facebook include assigned names, and name tags added on Facebook sync back to iPhoto.

Themed Slideshows: With six built in themes, making slideshows in iPhoto ‘09 is even simpler than before. These themes automatically use Classic, Shatter, Snapshots, Scrapbook, Ken Burns, and Sliding Panels transitions. And with the new Faces technology, iPhoto will also find faces in the image and make sure they remain in the viewable portion of the photo no matter where it fades or slides to, which is pretty awesome. On top of this, a filmstrip on the bottom lets users easily navigate between photos. Apple says:

You can also share photos by creating a themed slideshow to play on your Mac, iPhone or iPod, or create a beautiful travel book, complete with customized maps of your journey.

What to Expect

With all of these new features, iPhoto ‘09 will not be one to disappoint. With new competition from Picasa, these updates will help to keep iPhoto on top. The features I am most looking forward to are the Flickr and Facebook integration, as they will save me endless amounts of time of switching between applications and such. I have always found the older iPhoto to be a little feature lacking, but now I am thinking more and more about making it my main photo application. How about you?

Product [iPhoto ‘09] Via [Apple PR]

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

On January 5th, Microvision announced their preproduction model, codename SHOW WX, of their Pico projector. Today I got a chance to witness the tiny projector in action.

The Pico projector is named as such because it’s so small. It’s not quite one millionth of one millionth of a meter or anything, but it is tiny when compared to standard projectors. Here are some specs on the device.

• Easy setup: Simply plug and play.
• Small and sleek: 118 mm long by 60 mm wide by 14 mm thick, approximately the size of a personal media player or mobile phone .
• Always in focus: No focus adjustment is required, ever!
• Image of any size: Ideal for controlled lighting environments, images are projected as small as 6 inches to 100 inches, or more.
• Wide projection angle: Brings the “big screen” closer to the user.
• High-resolution (WVGA) and 16:9 format: Serves both consumer (e.g., video) and business (e.g., presentations) applications.
• Vivid images: Stunning laser colors combined with exceptional contrast.
• Long battery life: Expected for the production version, up to 2 hours, provides plenty of time to view a movie on a single charge.

The reason the device can be so small is that the light source is laser based.

Inside of the case there are three lasers: red, green and blue. Lasers bring a number of benefits.  First, they are fairly bright, so you can project an image, preferably in a light controlled area, up to 100 inches wide without it washing out too far to be viewable. The darker your room, the better the picture is going to look, but it’s still usable in a lit room; you just have to be closer to your “screen” area to get a bright enough image. A second benefit of lasers is infinite focus. You never have to focus the image no matter what your current viewing size. You can even project to curved surfaces without it looking funky.

In real life, the projector does a good job. Bigger images will looked washed out, and honestly, anything over about 32 inches is “iffy” unless you’re in a very dark room. But this isn’t meant to replace a full sized projector. It’s targeted at professionals who need to make impromptu presentations; those worried about built-in projectors not working for a presentation or users who just want to have an extremely mobile projector.

As far as connections are concerned you will be able to connect via VGA or iPod cable. Videos in iPod mode can be displayed, along with YouTube videos and Pictures. Currently Apple doesn’t support video out from other apps like the upcoming Slingbox app or from games, so no luck there. More connections may be available when the projector becomes available.

In its current state, the product would be priced somewhere around $500, but we may see that lowered in time. You can expect to see Microvision’s Pico projector hit the market in smaller numbers during the second quarter of 2009 and bigger quantities during the second half of the year.

Via [Microvision]

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We were standing in line in the Macworld Media Room, waiting for our (free) lunch. “Four kinds of sandwiches?” said the man next to me. “Well, at least that’ll give us something interesting to talk about after this morning’s keynote.”

Ouch. And yet, he had a point. If Apple wanted to not only end their association with their largest trade show, but also made sure that nobody was hyped about it for next year, then they definitely decided to go out with a whimper. Indeed, after a to-be-expected 17” Macbook Pro, the most exciting announcement was photo tagging, something that’s been available on popular social media sites for quite some time. DRM-free iTunes is good news, but Apple’s sold millions of songs with Fairplay, so it seems obvious that to the majority of people, it doesn’t really matter.

But walking around the show floor today, you’d be hard pressed to describe the mood as “glum.” Yes, this is the last Macworld with Apple’s presence, but Apple itself is a stronger company than ever. Makers of accessories, especially for iPhone and iPod, but also for the Macbook line, are out in force and hawking lines of colorful, fashionable cases. For the iPhone/iPod crowd, it’s easy to imagine that if/when Macworld Expo folds, they’ll just move over to CES—you don’t have to belong to the Cult of Mac to lust after an iPhone. It’s a gadget, not a way of life.

And that’s the weird nature of this Macworld Expo; nobody’s worried that Apple is going to go under—they’ve got billions of dollars in the bank, their market share is in double digits for the first time in…well, ever, and the iPhone is the hot gadget with the iPod running a close second. But while we may love Apple, Apple doesn’t have to love us back.

If there is a note of frustration, it’s coming from application developers. On the Mac side, it’s Apple’s abandonment of the largest trade show, and one less chance for companies who are still producing software for the Mac to connect with the press and the public. On the iPhone side, it’s with Apple draconian and secretive approval process. People are finally chomping at the bit to produce software for an Apple product, and now Apple is trying to clamp down on the process. Meanwhile, the people who don’t need Apple’s approval are struggling to get the word out to the audience. It’s a Topsy-Turvy world.

In fact, I’m almost ready to call this Macworld a point upgrade Expo: I’ve yet to see anything really astonishing, something that’s going to shake up the Mac foundation, but there are a lot of familiar companies offering good upgrades to existing products, the most notable of which is Microsoft, who were demoing a slew of betas that I’ll be covering later in the week. Everyone else is trying to figure out how to get their programs onto the iPhone.

Day 2 Swag

An iPod touch case from Speck (not technically swag, as it’s an item for review), and another flash drive (1GB) given when I asked for a press release: it’s getting to the point now where flash drives are cheaper than paper, I guess. The lanyard itself is a thing of beauty: woven cloth with a satin feel and a quick-release strap. I feel like I could haul an engine block out of a car with this thing.

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One of the most interesting things about being media at Macworld Expo is that people always want to know what you think. Or, more accurately, they ask what you think so they then have reason to tell you what they think. I’ve been to five Macworld Expos now in both New York (ah, those were the days) and San Francisco, and almost every meting I have with exhibitors on Tuesday starts with, “So what did you think of the keynote?” I answer, but I’m always more interested in what publishers and developers have to say. This year, by and large, it’s not looking too good.

Live by the keynote…

People who were expecting the mythical iTablet (Netbook (Macbook Nano)) were obviously let down. This is just a matter of setting expectations too high. Rumors are fun and all, but they inevitably lead to disappointment.

During the Macworld Expo Keynote itself, spirits seemed to be up. The applause was big, people were digging the software demos, and there was an energy present that I thought would be missing sans Steve. But then, the keynote ended. And there was no Macbook nano. And there was no new Mac mini. And there was no iPhone nano. Instead, we got a bunch of software updates and a MacBook Pro refresh that we all saw coming back in October. “Is that all there is?” people ask. But they know the answer. Of course that’s all there is. I mean, if Apple says they no longer need Macworld Expo, why make a big announcement at Macworld Expo? Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of pulling out?

...die by the keynote.

This, of course, leads to a letdown, causing people to just sort of trudge around the show floor. There’s still a lot of excitement from many developers, but the collective energy is gone. In talking with various exhibitors, the conversation inevitably turned to the death of Macworld Expo. IDG is already promoting the hell out of Macworld Expo 2010, but it feels desperate…like that woman on the street who handed me a flier and told me and Bill to come to her club tonight to watch her dance (she obviously doesn’t know about the iSkin party tonight…hello!). One software developer (Macintosh only) said his conversations with other developers have them all believing that Macworld 2010 will be cancelled within two months, and he’s furious about it. He understands Apple’s motivations, but feels they don’t understand how important the Expo is to companies such as his, even if it’s not important to Apple. This sentiment was echoed across most software developers with whom I spoke.

Unless…well, the iPhone. Two things came into play here. First, anyone developing anything for the iPhone/iPod touch were thrilled to be alive. Everyone’s making the money on the iPhone/iPod touch. But moreso than that, the people developing software/hardware for the iPhone don’t need Macworld Expo either. They’ve got CES. They’ve got dozens of other electronics events at which they can hawk their wares to more than just the Apple/Mac crowd. If anything, it seems some are happy that Macworld may go away, as they won’t have to plan for simultaneous events, focusing solely on CES at this time of year.

And that saddens me. Because, at the heart of it all, I’m a Macintosh guy. I could give up my iPhone and be okay. I could do without my iPod, although it’d be annoying. But if you took away my Macintosh and told me to work on a PC, I’d give up my job and become a train engineer, a lumberjack, or anything that doesn’t require me to look at a computer all day.

But it’s people like me—or, more accurately, people who write programs for people like me—who Apple is abandoning. So, I guess I’m a little disappointed, too.

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So it’s no secret that Phil Schiller was going to be under the magnifying glass during this, Apple’s last Keynote for Macworld. Everyone was watching, and for the most part, he did a great “job.”

Of course, Phil is not Steve Jobs, so there wasn’t that pesky reality distortion field, and there was quite a drought of “booms.” But Phil was confident and I don’t remember any “ums” or “ahs,” so he was quite prepared.

And that preparedness is just what Steve Jobs apparently wanted to avoid this year. So, I guess Steve kinda screwed over the Schiller family this holiday season.  Oh well.

The thing to take away from this is that while Steve Jobs may always be Apple’s fearless leader, he’s not the only one at Apple. Apple employs some of the best workers in the industry who make arguably some of the best products. When Steve finally does decide to leave, I believe the company is still in good hands.

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There was a huge crush of people trying to get a look at the new 17” Macbook Pro. I can’t report anything particularly breathtaking, other than it being, you know, a 17” Macbook Pro, but here are a few hastily-snapped pics.

Learn more in our coverage of the Macworld Expo Keynote.

Product [17” Macbook Pro]

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Apple spent quite a bit of time today on the new iMovie ‘09, and justifiably so. I didn’t like iMovie HD at all, mainly because it was a brand new program with a brand new way of using it, forcing users to relearn the system while not really offering anything new to justify the learning curve. With iMovie ‘09, the justification has arrived.

The demo during the keynote was stunning, offering fantastic, complex transitions and effects that can be easily implemented by users. There are now two layers in the timeline for precision editing, but only two. Still, anyone wanting more than that is likely going to be looking at Final Cut Express, anyway.

Advanced drag and drop makes it easier to splice video with other clips, which will please iMovie users who are tired of the Split Clip at Playhead command.

Dynamic themes and animated travel maps will really increase the look and “animation” of menus and such, and although they do look really good, you’re stuck with what Apple gives you. I expect it won’t be long before third-party companies start releasing their own map and theme modules, though.

Perhaps the coolest feature, though, is image stabilization. This’ll be great for both film geeks who want to play around with it, but also for pretty much everyone else who has trouble holding a camera steady. To explain what this is, think of those blurry videos of bigfoot or the JFK assassination where the camera bounces around the whole time. Image stabilization can center on the subject of the video, and rebalance the film so it there’s bouncing or shaking. It’s very cool, and open up a whole new world of boating videos, I’m sure. Even better, UFO video fakers will no longer have an excuse for bouncy video.

The image above doesn’t really do it justice, though. Check out the video at Apple’s website.

For more on the announcement, see our coverage of the Macworld Expo keynote.

iMovie ‘09 will ship in late January/early February with the rest of the iLife ‘09 suite. iLife ‘09 will be free on new Macs, and will retail for $79 for one license, $99 for a family pack.

Product [iMovie ‘09]

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Confirming rumors from earlier this week, Apple announced today that more songs would be available at the iTunes Store free of Digital Rights Management (DRM) software, and that songs would be sold at different prices.

Apple has signed deals with Sony BMG, Universal, and Warner Music (in addition to EMI, which started offering DRM-free music last year) to sell music without the Fairplay software which limits how many computers—and more importantly, which digital music players—songs purchased through iTunes may be used. Users will now be free to copy their music how they please, and play it on any device which supports the AAC format. Apple has faced repeated criticism (and lawsuits) about the tight relationship between the iPod and iTunes.

Schiller announced today 8 million songs (out of the 10 million offered) will be DRM-free, and that by the end of the quarter, Fairplay would be removed from all the songs. He also stated that “upgrading” previously-purchased music to the “iTunes Plus” version would be easy.

iPhone users will also be able to purchase songs using a 3G network, rather that only a wifi connection.

Apple has also announced that for the first time, they will be offering songs for sale at “flexible” pricing. Previously all songs on iTunes sold for 99 cents, but now the music on “iTunes Plus” will be placed into “tiers:” one for new, popular songs (and thus, the likeliest to command a higher price) at $1.29, one for older songs ($0.69), and the “regular” tier of $0.99.

Read [Macworld Expo Keynote live blog]

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Geotagging became an official part of iPhoto ‘09 as Apple announced its new “Places” feature. Users will either be able to tag the location of the photo manually, or, if using a camera that has GPS capabilities (like, say, an iPhone), the data will be added automatically. From there, iPhoto will create a map with pushpins indicating where pictures were taken. Users can mouse over them to get a thumbnail version of the photo, similar to the Flickr geotagging feature.

No word yet on pricing for iLife ‘09.

Full Story » | Written by Bill Stiteler for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

While Phil Schiller was rockin’ the mic and waxing rhapsodic about the wonders of iLife ‘09, there was a bit of drama on the Mac web: the live coverage of the Keynote being provided by MacRumors was hacked by people claiming to be from 4chan imageboard. The person or group began posting their own irreverent version of what was happening on stage—how everyone else missed the orgy, I’m not sure—as well as making repeated announcements of Steve Jobs’ demise, the laxness of Mac security, and so on.

The posting went on for quite a few minutes before the feed, and eventually the Macrumors site itself, went offline.

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At today’s Philnote, Apple announced the addition of “Faces,” face-recognition software for the new iPhoto ‘09. The software will allow users to tag a person’s face in a picture (by drawing a box around it). Faces will then attempt to identify other pictures with the same person. iPhoto will then create a page for that person (similar to a smart folder).

In addition, since iPhoto ‘09 features integration with Facebook, people who have already been tagged from the social media website will have that info integrated with the iPhoto data. iPhoto ‘09 will also include features for geotagging (dubbed “Places” by The Phil). No word yet on pricing.

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Here we go. 2-1/2 hours away from the keynote, and our live blog is up and running. Stick with Appletell ongoing commentary leading up to, during, and after the keynote, complete with images and some video later on. The countdown begins now.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

We’re now just 12 hours away from Phil Schiller’s keynote at Macworld Conference and Expo, and Appletell is in San Francisco preparing for the big event. We’ll be in the keynote and around it, covering it live as it happens and following up with all of the new product announcements. Check back with us tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. for pre-keynote discussion and speculation, and hang around for our commentary and photos of the even as it happens.

In the meantime, check out our coverage of today’s events and parties, and be sure to catch up on all of Macworld Expo rumors about what we may see at the keynote.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

It’s the Monday before the final Apple Keynote at MacWorld Expo, the first official day of the convention, but there’s still a sense that it really begins tomorrow, or maybe it ends.

Certainly Macworld Expo itself doesn’t feel that tomorrow is an ending, they’re already promoting the 2010 convention as “the start of a new era.” But while they’re trying to draw con goers in for next year, the exhibitors are hastily assembling their booths down in the convention center.  It’s sort of heartening to see Acura and EVE Online both rushing to finish their displays, perhaps lending an Allen wrench, and laughing at the guys from The Sharper Image.

But I digress.

But where you find exhibitors, you’ll find the press, especially if there’s free food and drinks. Making the rounds of the opening night events, we got a first look at some of the exciting products that will be shown at the Expo, as well as something even more exciting: mashed potatoes served in a Martini glass!

But it’s not all press releases and open bars. There’s also developer discontent in the form of a petition being passed around by Newber, a company that’s developed a phone forwarding app for the iPhone, but are frustrated with the lack of communication from Apple; so frustrated, in fact, they’ve put a clock on their website counting up the time (95 days as of this writing) with no response as to when their app will be available on the only legal outlet: the iTunes Store.

And so, after a long day of travel and buffet dining, we turn in and await the big announcements of tomorrow’s keynote. And in order to put you in the spirit of Macworld Expo (and in the spirit of full disclosure), I’ll be keeping a running total of the swag collected:

Day One: Laptop case from Brenthaven, and two USB Flash drives, one of which was supposed to contain a series of press releases, but which was conveniently pre-erased.

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Let me start off by saying that the “Creative Safari” has absolutely nothing to do with the Safari browser. I think someone somewhere could have come up with a better name that would not be so confusing to some people. What it does have to do with is digital photography and videography.

The CS1 track is all about beginner digital photography. Lesa Snider King will be taking everyone on a journey through the various pieces of the puzzle with regard to shooting, editing, and publishing photos. I think this track would be perfect for someone like my wife who just got a new DSLR camera for Christmas. I can’t speak for everyone, of course, but for me, learning is a hands-on kind of thing. I could read the manual four times and not learn as much as I would from just pushing buttons and seeing what happens. I think this track is a great match of the two and a great beginners’ course for everyone who is looking to get more out of their camera.

The CS2 track is hosted by Steve Simon who is a renowned photographer. You can check his work out here [stevesimonphoto.com]. In this track, Steve is going to take a look at some advance techniques. The best part of CS2? Real world application. Part of the track is going to require that you go outside the Moscone Center in San Francisco and take some photos. It is encouraged that people step outside their “comfort zones” and shoot anything and everything that inspires them. Steve will then go through some workflows and editing magic with Apple’s Aperture. Sounds like a lot of fun.

The CS3 track is all about video. The cool part about it is that you can bring your own footage to work with during the track. Final Cut Studio master trainer Steve Martin of Ripple Training and producer/director Brian Gary will be providing a “boot camp” of editing and evaluating footage you bring to the class.

The Creative Safari at MacWorld Expo sounds like a lot of fun for people who are into photography and home movie production. Check it out.

Via [macworldexpo.com]

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The Unofficial Apple Weblog has revived an old rumor for this year’s Macworld as, according to them, a trusted source has informed them that an AT&T tethering plan may be announced this year. Although they point out that this announcement may not make the actual keynote (by Phil, of course), it may be announced via a simple press release. As was reported a while back, the numbers still stand at a $30 a month addition to the current plans. However, this isn’t bad compared to the $60 for EV-DO.

With as many iPhone users as there are these days, this would be great for both AT&T and Apple. Not only will it make the iPhone that much more useful, it will also bring in more revenue for AT&T, as well as more users for their network. The only hope I have is that the speeds are fast enough and AT&T prepares enough for how much extra load this may add to their coverage. If this is executed successfully (and actually true), look for a happy iPhone crowd!

Via [The Unofficial Apple Weblog]

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Earlier this morning, Steve Jobs and the Apple PR team released a letter with more details into Steve’s health. The letter talks about Steve’s current health conditions and what his role will continue to be at Apple, the CEO. He has made it clear in the letter that he will not be stepping down and will continue to serve Apple and the community.

Dear Apple Community,

For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.

Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.

I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.

Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.

The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.

I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.

So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.

Steve

Appletell has been covering Steve’s health since the day people suspected there may be an issue. Most recently though, the rumors began to fly when it was announced that Steve Jobs wouldn’t be delivering this years’ Macworld Keynote address.

I spoke with a physician about this issue, and he told be that hormone imbalances can cause a loss of weight, and this diagnosis is possible. He informed me of some disorders which commonly cause weight-loss due to an imbalance of hormones, two of which are hyperthyroidism and diabetes. While it seems in this case that Steve probably has neither of the two, we are confident that the doctors handling and watching his health will monitor him closely to insure a full recovery.

Stay tuned to Appletell this week for more Macworld 2009 Conference and Expo coverage.

Via [Apple]

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