TidBITS#640/29-Jul-02
=====================
Attending Macworld Expo isn't just a job, it's a passion -
rounding out our Expo coverage, Adam invites you to tag along
during his week at the show and at a pair of Apple Stores. We
also share our Macworld Expo superlatives, those products that
made the biggest impression on us as we walked the show floor.
Finally, if Apple's conversion of iTools to the fee-based .Mac
has you down, the results of last week's poll show that you're
by no means alone.
Topics:
MailBITS/29-Jul-02
Macworld Expo New York 2002 Superlatives
Macworld Expo New York 2002 Diary
<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-640.html>
<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/issues/2002/TidBITS#640_29-Jul-02.etx>
Copyright 2002 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
Information: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Comments: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---------------------------------------------------------------
This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* Make friends and influence people by sponsoring TidBITS!
Put your company and products in front of tens of thousands of
savvy, committed Macintosh users who actually buy stuff.
For more information and rates, email <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
* READERS LIKE YOU! You can help support TidBITS via our voluntary <- NEW!
contribution program. Special thanks this week to Henry Halff,
Roy Rosenzweig, and Andrew Laurence for their kind support!
<http://www.tidbits.com/about/support/contributors.html>
* Small Dog Electronics: PowerBook G4/667 Combo Drive: $2,389! <----- NEW!
iMac G4/800 Flat Panel 256/60/SuperDrive Refurbished: $1,529!
New Factory-Sealed iBook G3/600 14in 256/20/Combo: $1,499
Dual Gig Demo: $2499 <http://www.smalldog.com/tb/> 802/496-7171
* Protect Yourself from Internet Intruders! IPNetSentry is the <----- NEW!
intelligent, easy-to-use way to deter hackers from an Internet-
connected Mac. Rated 5 "locks" by SecureMac.com. Just $35
from Sustainable Softworks <http://www.sustworks.com/tb/>
* DEALMAC: Maxtor DiamondMax 60 GB EIDE 7200 rpm for $50 w/rebate. <- NEW!
<http://dealmac.com/articles/38773.html?ref=tb>
DEALMAC: Belkin 4-port Cable/DSL Router for $30 after rebate.
<http://dealmac.com/articles/38743.html?ref=tb>
---------------------------------------------------------------
MailBITS/29-Jul-02
------------------
**To .Mac or Not To .Mac?** If the results of our poll asking for
your opinions of Apple's charges for .Mac are any indication,
Apple will soon be serving somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000
.Mac customers, down from 2,200,000 iTools users. Some 85 percent
of respondents to our poll said they wouldn't be using .Mac,
though the vast majority _had_ used iTools. Of the 15 percent who
do plan to use .Mac, 13 percent had previously used iTools, and
2 percent were new users attracted by .Mac's features. Although
I still encourage everyone to register their feedback with Apple
directly, after results like this and the discussions on TidBITS
Talk, it seems to me that the people at Apple making this decision
understand the consequences and have decided the harsh medicine is
still necessary. Chuck Goolsbee, VP of Technical Operations at
digital.forest, our Web and mailing list host, estimated in a
TidBITS Talk posting that iTools was likely costing Apple at least
$10 to $20 million per year, if not more. Though Apple has kept
its corporate head above water with modest profits of late,
it's easy to understand Apple's need to reign in costs related
to iTools, even at the cost of significant goodwill among
existing customers. [ACE]
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbpoll=77>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06883>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=1687>
<http://www.apple.com/feedback/mac/pm.html>
Macworld Expo New York 2002 Superlatives
----------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst and Mark H. Anbinder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Although the number of exhibitors at Macworld Expo New York might
have been lower than some previous years, there was still a lot
to see, and a few products jumped out as being worthy of mention.
**EyeTV** -- El Gato Software, the folks behind Roxio's Toast, had
the hit of the show with their new EyeTV, a hardware and software
combination that enables your Mac to act like digital video
recorders TiVo and ReplayTV. It records shows directly to your
hard disk (taking up 650 MB of disk space per hour), provides an
interface for watching recorded shows, can pause live TV, and can
record and play simultaneously. Upsides include a capability to
use Toast to save shows to CD-R, control over how much disk space
is used, and a low cost ($200) without additional service fees. On
the downside, though, EyeTV uses relatively low quality MPEG-1 by
default, and if you use its higher quality setting, you can't save
shows to CD-R. Plus, resolution is only 320 by 240 pixels, it
doesn't appear from the specifications as though EyeTV works
with digital cable or satellite dishes, and of course, your Mac
must live within cable distance of your television. [ACE]
<http://www.elgato.com/eyeTV/>
<http://www.tivo.com/>
<http://www.replaytv.com/>
**MyTV2GO** -- Not far from El Gato was Eskape Labs, showing a
variety of hardware and software products that put TV shows into
a window on your Mac's screen. Starting at just $80 for MyTV2GO's
video capture and TV tuner capabilities, Eskape's product line
offers a low-cost option for those who just want to watch TV on
their Macs. An FM tuner model of the MyTV products are also
available. Other entries in Eskape's product line include a USB
video mirroring device for showing your laptop's screen on a TV
(or recording it), and straightforward video capture and video
conferencing devices. [MHA]
<http://www.eskapelabs.com/products.html>
**Now Software Returns & Goes Cross Platform** -- Old-timers will
remember Now Software, makers of the popular Now Utilities (an
idea just revived by Aladdin Systems with their Ten For X utility
collection) and the powerful Now Up-to-Date & Contact calendar and
contact manager. Now Software floundered, was bought by Qualcomm
for confused reasons, and the software sat dormant until Power On
Software rescued it. Power On has just revived the Now Software
name and moved Now Up-to-Date & Contact into the Now Software
division. More interesting, though, was Now Software's
announcement of a nearly identical Windows version of Now
Up-to-Date & Contact, complete with full cross-platform sharing
of calendar events and contacts on local networks and over the
Internet. The final Windows versions aren't due for a while,
unfortunately (hopefully before the fourth quarter of 2002 for
Now Up-to-Date and second quarter of 2003 for Now Contact), but
given the large number of Mac users who need to share calendars
and contacts with Windows users, I expect the software will be
eagerly awaited. [ACE]
<http://www.nowsoftware.com/>
<http://www.aladdinsys.com/tenforx/>
**Six Degrees** -- People who rely heavily on email for project
collaboration will be intrigued by Creo's Six Degrees. It watches
what you do in email, tracking files you send and receive, the
people with whom you're sharing these files, and any surrounding
email discussions. Then it gives you a clean interface for finding
files or email threads related to a given project no matter where
those files or messages might have been filed or how they might
have been named. What I appreciated most about Six Degrees is
the way it adapts to what you're already doing, rather than
shoehorning you into some arbitrary organizational scheme - too
few products offer such functionality. Six Degrees isn't perfect,
though, and in fact I won't be using it now for two reasons: it
works only with Microsoft Entourage (plus Microsoft Outlook on
Windows), and much of what I do is ongoing communication with
random individuals or TidBITS staff, not discrete projects
involving sharing files with a set group of people. Nevertheless,
Six Degrees shows a lot of promise, and I'm looking forward to
it adding support for professional email programs like Eudora,
Mailsmith, PowerMail, and QuickMail. It costs $100 and there's
a 30-day evaluation copy. [ACE]
<http://www.creo.com/sixdegrees/>
**4D Mail & WebSTAR 5.2** -- When 4D brought WebSTAR to Mac OS X,
there was a gaping hole from the Mac OS 9 version of the product
suite - no mail server. It wasn't even that WebSTAR's mail server
was particularly good - it wasn't - but if you were using it, the
lack of a mail server made upgrading to Mac OS X more expensive
and difficult, with the main options being Tenon's Post.Office
($300 for 100 mailboxes) and Stalker Software's Communigate Pro
($500 for 50 mailboxes), neither of which has a Macintosh
administration application. At Macworld Expo, though, 4D announced
4D Mail, a high-performance Mac OS X-native POP/IMAP/SMTP/WebMail
server with solid spam blocking capabilities and filtering of Mac
and Windows viruses via Virex, plus a Mac OS X application for
administering the server. 4D Mail will be bundled as part of
WebSTAR 5.2 and sold separately.
When 4D Mail ships in early September, the pricing will be
competitive with existing Mac OS X mail server products, with a
$150 version for small offices that supports 10 mailboxes, a $250
version for 100 mailboxes with 100-mailbox expansion packs for
$150 each, and an unlimited mailbox version for $1,500. The news
is even better for owners of WebSTAR - if you have registered
WebSTAR V by 31-Aug-02, the upgrade to WebSTAR 5.2 with 4D Mail
is free and includes an unlimited mailbox license (after August,
you get only a 100-mailbox license). Similarly, if you upgrade
from WebSTAR 4.x ($200) before 31-Oct-02, you also get WebSTAR
5.2 with an unlimited mailbox license. For those looking for
canned solutions, 4D also released the $500 4D Business Kit 1.2
for making online stores in Mac OS X, and the free 4D Portal 1.5
for Mac OS X (with source code) for making custom portal sites
with weblogs, discussion forums, auctions, and more. [ACE]
<http://www.webstar.com/products/4dmail.html>
<http://www.tenon.com/products/post_office/>
<http://www.stalker.com/CGatePro.html>
<http://www.4D.com/4DBK/>
<http://www.my4dportal.com/>
**Move2Mac** -- Apple has been pushing the new Switchers ad
campaign in which real people talk about why they switched from
Windows to the Mac. Steve Jobs even said in the Macworld Expo
keynote that 60 percent of the 1.7 million visitors to the
Switchers Web site are using Windows machines. But how will all
those Windows users who buy a Mac move their documents, email
address books, and so on over to their new Mac? Move2Mac, a $60
product due out in a few months from Detto Technologies, should
reduce the manual hassle of moving data across. It's a combination
of software that helps the user select data to move and a USB
cable for the physical connection. [ACE]
<http://www.detto.com/move2mac/>
**JBL Creature Speakers** -- Harman Multimedia has set the
standard for innovative industrial designs for speakers, and the
new $130 JBL Creature speakers spring directly from that heritage.
The self-powered satellite speakers and subwoofer come in three
colors (metallic blue, metallic silver, and white) and have a
droopy shape that resembles Darth Vader's helmet. The large
subwoofer has knobs for adjusting bass and treble, and one of
the two small satellite speakers has a pair of touch-sensitive
volume control buttons (touch both at the same time to mute).
The satellite speakers also sport LEDs underneath for an unearthly
glow in low light rooms. Obviously, there was no way to evaluate
how good these speakers sounded in the cacophony of the Macworld
Expo show floor, but as with some of the silent movie stars,
sometimes it's not about how good you sound, it's how good
you look. [ACE]
<http://www.harman-multimedia.com/>
**Remote Computing from Microsoft** -- The surprise announcement
from Microsoft was a free program with the ungainly, if accurate,
moniker of Remote Desktop Connection Client (RDC). Put simply,
it lets you open a window to a Windows 2000 or Windows XP machine
running either Terminal Services or Remote Desktop Services. Then,
you can run Windows applications, copy files back and forth, and
even move text via the clipboard. RDC doesn't work like screen
sharing programs like Netopia's Timbuktu, the free VNC, or even
Apple's Remote Desktop. Those programs transfer the image of
the remote screen to your Mac, whereas RDC is responding to
instructions from the remote computer and doing the drawing
locally. I haven't had a chance to test it yet, but RDC should
be notably more responsive than screen sharing programs. If you
have a PC running an appropriate Windows operating system that
you need to use occasionally, RDC could be the perfect solution.
It's a 610K download and runs only in Mac OS X. [ACE]
<http://microsoft.com/mac/products/rdc/>
<http://www.netopia.com/en-us/software/products/tb2/>
<http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/>
<http://www.apple.com/remotedesktop/>
**Spamfire Stops Spam at Your Mailbox** -- We've talked a lot
about unsolicited commercial email over the years, and recently
the focus has been on the undesirable effects of server-side,
content-based email filtering, especially when the user has no
control over it. Spamfire Pro from Matterform Media puts control
in the user's hands, where it belongs. Spamfire (available as a
downloadable demo version, plus inexpensive Lite and Pro versions)
filters out the spam in your POP3 or IMAP mailbox, based on highly
configurable rules and filters, before triggering your email
client to retrieve what's left. The $20 Lite version can check
one mailbox; the $30 Pro version checks multiple mailboxes and
includes a year of automatic filter updates from the company.
[MHA]
<http://www.matterform.com/spamfire/>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbser=1221>
Macworld Expo New York 2002 Diary
---------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
My post-Macworld Expo coverage generally aims at analysis, noting
significant trends or themes that help us understand the state
of the Mac industry and where it's going. This year, however, I'm
not going to do much of that, because I'd feel as though I was
rewriting last year's analysis of the New York show. In short,
attendees were surprisingly numerous (though down about ten
percent from last year, a negligible dip considering last
September's terrorist attacks on New York) and seemed happy and
upbeat. The number of exhibitors was down, but the ones with whom
I spoke were happy about the traffic and direct sales. And just
like last year, there weren't any truly amazing products, although
a number of the more interesting ones appear in our traditional
superlatives article in this issue.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06502>
Instead, join me on a ride through the events of my week, complete
with a pair of appearances at Apple Stores sandwiching the three
days of Macworld Expo. I hope you'll get a better feel for what a
Macworld Expo week can be like for me and see how much happens at
the Expo beyond the show itself.
**Sunday, July 14th** -- I began with a three and a half hour
drive from Ithaca, NY to the Apple Store in West Nyack, NY for a
"Meet the Experts" presentation on iPhoto. At the Palisades Mall,
a monstrous conglomeration of stores with an abysmal directory,
I found the Apple Store and introduced myself to Scott behind the
Genius Bar. He clearly knew his stuff, as did the other Genius
Bar staffers I spoke with, although he said the downside of the
position is that people constantly ask if he's a genius. (Answer:
Yes, with a capital G and a TM sign.) The presentation itself got
off to a rocky start, with someone in the back immediately asking
a detailed iPhoto troubleshooting question. Luckily we managed to
get past that quickly, and I showed off iPhoto basics and passed
along tips for using it well. Although many audience members were
clearly new Mac owners, they asked amazingly good questions, and
as I neared the end of my presentation, I realized I'd been
talking for nearly two hours.
<http://www.apple.com/retail/palisades/>
I packed quickly and jumped back in the car to drive another
hour into New York City to have dinner with my grandparents.
Then, I drove for another hour to my aunt and uncle's house in
Staten Island, where I chatted for a while before retiring to
catch up on email. Exhausted, I finally went to bed around 1 AM.
**Monday, July 15th** -- Monday is TidBITS production day, so I
spent my waking hours editing the issue and trading email with
other editors and contributors. The New York Times ran a short
piece about our spam filter travails (see "Email Filtering:
Killing the Killer App" in TidBITS-367_), so I also spent some
time on correspondence regarding that. Before I knew it, my
relatives had returned home from work, and it was time for dinner.
They went to bed around 10 PM, and once again, I stayed up until
about 1 AM, finishing a final edit pass on a Macworld magazine
article and responding to as much email as I could, since I was
going to be offline all day Tuesday.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/15/technology/15SPAM.html>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06866>
**Tuesday, July 16th** -- Tuesday before Macworld Expo is
traditionally a day I reserve for having fun in New York City
on my own, so I got up early to go into work with my aunt,
who's second-in-charge of the Statue of Liberty (still closed
to visitors, though you can walk around outside now). I spent the
morning browsing through the excellent Ellis Island Museum, then
headed into Manhattan. I took the subway uptown, checked into the
Paramount Hotel, and then spent the afternoon hopping between art
galleries in the Chelsea district and taking photos of people on
the street.
<http://www.ellisisland.com/>
At 8 PM, I returned to the lobby of the Paramount, where TidBITS
readers had already begun to gather for our annual TidBITS Ice
Cream Social (see the group photo below - thanks to Pekka Helos
for taking it!). We chatted for about half an hour, tried some
truly amazing fresh Krispy Kreme donuts brought by Alex Hoffman,
and then walked to a nearby Ben & Jerry's. After cooling off with
ice cream (especially welcome in the muggy evening temperatures),
we headed back to the Paramount to continue discussions about
everything from spam filtering to the room-sized printers that
print Apple's trade show banners to the new REALbasic Developer
magazine, until we finally called it quits around midnight. I
spent another hour preparing email for the next morning (when
I'm travelling, I try to send Tristan email every day or so with
pictures of things I see), and it was time for bed.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/640/ice-cream-social-2002.jpg>
<http://www.rbdeveloper.com/>
**Wednesday, July 17th** -- Finally, the official Expo began in
earnest with Steve Jobs's keynote. Press people had to be at the
Javits Convention Center by 8 AM for the 9 AM keynote, so I got
up and out quickly. I always like to walk over to Javits from
the Paramount in the morning - despite the 15 minute walk, it's a
relaxing time. Arriving at Javits, I immediately ran into an Apple
employee friend from Seattle who had been dragooned into holding
a big Media sign and directing press people to the appropriate
staging area (he was good, and refrained from using the words
"pen," "corral," or "herding" when anyone was listening). After
15 minutes of chatting, I joined my fellow pack animals, and
another 20 minutes after that, we were herded to our seats in the
auditorium. Interestingly, there weren't as many people registered
as press as in previous years. This year, I had no problem finding
a seat.
The Macintosh media world is relatively small, so many of us
know one another, and I sat with a number of editors from Macworld
Magazine. We traded comments back and forth and shared notes
occasionally as Jobs ran through a vast number of announcements
in a mere two hours (see TidBITS-639_ for full details).
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbiss=639>
The keynote gets the bulk of the attention at Macworld, but for me
it's merely the launch pad for numerous meetings and appearances.
After the keynote, I dashed off to a press briefing from Creo,
whose Six Degrees software provides a new way of organizing
project-related files and email, though currently only for
Microsoft Entourage users.
<http://www.creo.com/sixdegrees/>
After that, I had about 20 minutes to snarf lunch in the speaker
room and send and receive email using their AirPort-based Internet
connection before heading off to my Macworld Users conference
iPhoto presentation. People once again asked so many good
questions that I only made it through about two-thirds of my
material. Luckily I was able to continue talking at a signing at
the Peachpit booth immediately afterwards. After an hour of that,
I met with Peachpit's publisher, Nancy Ruenzel, to chat about the
book's performance and future. Next up was a short conversation
with the director of marketing for Web Crossing, whose software
TidBITS is considering for our next-generation infrastructure.
Around 5 PM, I finally had a chance to see the show floor, at
least until 6 PM, when the show closed.
<http://www.webcrossing.com/>
Don't think that meant the end of the day, though, since first I
hung out with everyone who was going to the Netter's Dinner, and
then walked over to the restaurant with them. Before we arrived,
though, Glenn Fleishman, a good friend who worked with us on
NetBITS, and I broke off and took the subway downtown to meet a
small group of Mac friends at a theater where ex-Seattleite Mike
Daisey was performing his one-man, Off-Broadway show about working
at Amazon.com. Glenn had done a six-month stint as Amazon's
catalog manager, and since we had lived in Seattle during
Amazon's rise to prominence, Mike's show was especially hilarious
(I recommend it to anyone who has watched the dot-com boom and
bust at all closely). Since Glenn and Mike knew each other, our
group had dinner with Mike and his wife before we all piled back
into the subway to head home. I made it to the Paramount by
midnight, but after realizing that my roommate - Chuck Shotton,
who wrote the first versions of WebSTAR - had arrived and was
already asleep, I went to the lobby to work through email for
an hour before I dropped from exhaustion again.
<http://www.mikedaisey.com/>
**Thursday, July 18th** -- Vowing to be better about email, I got
up early and arrived at Javits around 9 AM, which is before the
show floor opens. Luckily, the press room, with its AirPort-based
Internet connection and bagel breakfast, was open, so I settled
down to my email. I didn't read much, though, thanks to an
impromptu visit from Craig Isaacs, who used to be the VP of
Marketing at Dantz Development and is now the president of
networking software company Neon Software. In addition to
catching up on personal news, I saw enough of Neon's NetMinder
and LANsurveyor products to want to spend more time with them
later. Craig realized he was late for a meeting, so I spent a
few more minutes with email, just in time to receive notification
that I'd managed to retain my third place ranking in the MDJ
Power 25 list of influential people in the Macintosh world.
That list has been good for my ego each year, and it reinforces
my belief that making connections and doing the right thing
is always the best course of action.
<http://www.neon.com/>
<http://www.macjournals.com/pages/gcsf/mdj_power_25_2002.html>
I hit the show floor at 10 AM and spent a few hours browsing
the booths before attending a briefing with CMS Peripherals
about the ABSplus backup device (a FireWire hard disk with a
custom controller and software that enables it to back up changed
files whenever you plug it in), and then taking lunch with the
president of 4D to talk about their new mail server.
<http://www.cmsproducts.com/usb_abs_mac.htm>
<http://www.webstar.com/products/4dmail.html>
Next up was another signing for my iPhoto book at the Aladdin
Systems booth, after which Sean King invited me over for a live
broadcast of his Your Mac Life radio show, leaving only a half-
hour before the show floor closed.
<http://www.yourmaclife.com/>
Even though I'd managed to eat lunch, the Peachpit authors dinner
was welcome, as was the group limo ride that eliminated a long,
muggy walk. There, along with much convivial conversation, I
learned that my iPhoto Visual QuickStart Guide had been the first
product purchased during the grand opening of the new Apple Store
in Soho. After dinner and a little rain that didn't break the
mugginess, fellow author Dori Smith and I hopped into a cab
to go to Apple's Pro-to-Pro party, where vendors demonstrated
products and services at small stations while everyone mingled.
Unfortunately, demonstrations from a small stage were also going
on, with a deafening sound system. By the end of the party, I'd
been lucky enough to show the party coordinator my 1998 article
on how to throw a good Macworld party.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=04694>
When things wound down at 10 PM, I was too tired to attend the
Your Mac Life party with the Macintosh All Star Band, so Tim
Holmes (the manager of Apple's Mac OS evangelists and #5 on the
MDJ Power 25 list this year) and I walked back to the Paramount,
where we talked for a few hours before another friend, Richard
Ford of Packeteer, (who was previously Apple's Open Transport
product manager) happened on us in the Paramount's bar. His
arrival extended the evening for another few hours, so 3 AM
had come and gone before I went to my room, where Chuck was
still awake. It was another hour before we finished catching up.
**Friday, July 19th** -- Chuck and I had to check out of the hotel
before heading over to the show, so we were awake and packed
before 9 AM. We met Richard Ford and Tom Weyer of Apple for
breakfast and discussions about unusual wireless networking
situations, since Tom had been the wireless networking evangelist
until recently. Once at the Javits Convention Center, I headed for
the speaker room to get email again and dash off a note to Tristan
before hosting an informal, round-table discussion in the User
Group Lounge. I had a great time talking and quizzing people on
TidBITS trivia in exchange for a few TidBITS t-shirts I'd brought
to give away. I then saw most of the rest of the show floor before
putting in an hour at the Peachpit booth talking to people about
digital cameras and iPhoto. There I also received the enjoyable
news that Peachpit had sold all its copies of my iPhoto book at
the show - we had to send the last few people over to the Aladdin
booth, where a few copies were left. With the show floor closing,
I had an hour to check my usual sources on estimated attendance
and exhibitor opinions about the show.
Though the show was over, I wasn't done. I met Tim Holmes again,
and we compared notes on the show while picking up our luggage and
meeting Andy Ihnatko (#23 on this year's MDJ Power 25), with whom
we took a cab to Brooklyn for dinner with a number of Mac friends
at Tim's brother's house. Most people left or went to bed by
midnight, but a few of us stayed up talking until nearly 4 AM.
**Saturday, July 20th and Beyond** -- The week's lack of sleep
clearly catching up with me, I struggled awake at 7:30 AM and went
to breakfast with fellow journalist David Strom at 8 AM. After a
lengthy (and tasty) dim sum breakfast in Chinatown, David dropped
me off at the Apple Store in Soho, where I was to present at 6:30
PM that evening. My plan was to dump my luggage in an office and
then spend the afternoon walking around Soho. I had a great time
talking to street artists and wandering in and out of stores and
galleries until the lights suddenly flickered and went out when a
transformer blew at the main ConEd plant, which powers a large
chunk of lower Manhattan. Not being from New York, I didn't
immediately assume the worst, but the natives were distinctly
jumpy, especially as the fire engines started racing past (as
much as is possible in crowded Manhattan streets).
After the power went out, I walked back to the Apple Store, where
I watched as firemen rescued people trapped in the elevator,
leaving the store with their ladders and a standing ovation
from the customers. The Apple Store was better off than almost
any other business in the area - its open, airy design had a
lot of natural light, and of course, the PowerBooks and iBooks
kept working for a few hours on battery power.
<http://www.apple.com/retail/soho/>
Nonetheless, it was still early in the afternoon, so I didn't see
any reason to stick around to see if the power would come back on.
Instead, I walked downtown to J&R Music & Computer World, which
is one of the main Mac dealers in New York City and located just
across the street from the blacked-out area. I was curious to
compare them to the Apple Store, and after doing so, I can see why
Apple is keen on opening more stores. Although J&R seems generally
well-respected as a Mac dealer, the Apple Store had two
advantages. First, you can be sure in the Apple Store that
everything works with a Mac. Second, Apple does a great job of
letting people touch not only Macs, but also peripherals like
digital cameras, scanners, and printers.
<http://www.jandr.com/>
<http://www.apple.com/retail/>
Continuing down to the tip of Manhattan, I walked past ground zero
of the terrorist attacks, which looks primarily like a large
construction hole now, though plenty of physical reminders of the
destruction of the World Trade Center towers remain. Around 5 PM
I returned to the Apple Store, which was being forced to close at
6 PM because the power hadn't come back on. Undaunted, I
volunteered to demonstrate iPhoto to anyone who came by since
my iBook was the only machine still usable. Even more fun was
showing the Apple Store employees some of the tricks and
techniques I've learned, since they give presentations about
it and other Apple programs every day.
Fortunately, the subway to the Staten Island Ferry was still
running, and after a scenic ferry ride, I was recounting the
events of my day to my aunt and uncle over dinner. I made it
to bed by the relatively early hour of 11 PM.
After a late and leisurely breakfast, I made the four hour drive
home, then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening writing
this article and catching up on important email. Unfortunately for
me, we decided it was more important to run the keynote coverage,
so I spent all day Monday writing the articles you read last week.
We normally prefer a more relaxed production schedule, but special
occasions like Macworld Expo often require such last minute
exertions.
**Finishing Up** -- I hope you've enjoyed this trip through my
life at Macworld, and if I occasionally seem distracted or tired
at future shows, I hope you'll now understand why. As you can
tell, the hardest parts are finding time to visit the show floor
and keep up with email.
Although I'm dead tired at the end of each day, I do love doing
this. There's little I enjoy more than talking with people about
Macintosh and Internet topics, and for many people in the
industry, trade shows are the main chance we have to see
one another.
The big difference between the Macintosh world and so many
others is the community that's grown up around the Mac, and
that's nowhere more evident than at Macworld. Sure, many people
just go to Macworld Expo, walk around the floor for a few hours,
and then go home, but if you put some effort into meeting and
talking to other people, it's easy to find yourself welcomed
into the community.
$$
Non-profit, non-commercial publications may reprint articles if
full credit is given. Others please contact us. We don't guarantee
accuracy of articles. Caveat lector. Publication, product, and
company names may be registered trademarks of their companies.
This file is formatted as setext. For more information send email
to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. A file will be returned shortly.
For information: how to subscribe, where to find back issues,
and more, email <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. TidBITS ISSN 1090-7017.
Send comments and editorial submissions to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Back issues available at: <http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/>
And: <ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/issues/>
Full text searching available at: <http://www.tidbits.com/search/>
-------------------------------------------------------------------
