Well, I finally made it to the show floor today. Due to other conflicts and meetings, I never actually made it onto the floor yesterday for the few hours I attended the show.
My first impression was “spread out.” As has been pointed out already, they only used half the normal space this year on just one side of the convention hall, choosing to shove everyone into the single space. Not only did this mean that all the vendors were in the same space, but so were all the conference attendees. In the past, each “side” of the show floor was less crowded because at any one time, a good percentage of the people would be spread out between the two conference halls. This year, everyone was in one, making the space just a bit too crowded to se things easily. It was harder to see product, harder to walk down aisles, and harder to talk to people. I found I missed a great deal of stuff as I walked each isle.
I also noticed a lack of companies selling Mac products this year. In the past there have been a number of VERY large booths from major Macintosh and PC retailers selling their wares at the show. While several still made the show, they had smaller booths, and still others seemed to be missing all together. There was a great stall at the far end of the hall selling only musical products, from keyboards and midi devices, to Mac software for music professionals. It was very crowded every time I passed.
Like David Casseres, I noted WAY too many people with iPod accessories, and a good deal more people selling bags for which to carry all your Apple stuff. I was surprised at the number of cases for iPods, and ONLY iPods! I showed one company my Treo 600 and asked them if they had a case for this? They said“…the Treo is not popular enough so we will not bother.” OK, fair enough! SIGH
Bags, Bags, and more bags, everyone has a bag for your PowerBook or iBook, and everyone has their own little special thing that makes theirs “better than the others.” (Look for a review or two on some of these from Nemo and myself very soon.)
A few stood out amongst the others in my first pass through the show (but there is still time to find more!) First off is Laptop Armor by Matias. This is not your typical bag, but rather a very strong hard shell aluminum carrying case with a “do-it-yourself” interior for holding your laptop. With the use of Velcro pads, you place your PowerBook or iBook in the bottom and then Velcro together enough pads to hold it securely in place. There is no way you are going to damage your laptop even if you drop this down a flight of stairs, which I hope to try with a sample case and an old 540c PowerBook sometime later this month! Look for a full review on these cases from Nemo and myself soon. More info is available at http://www.laptoparmor.com
My favorite item this arena has to go to a company called That Pack. As many of you know, I have been on a quest to find that “ultimate” bag to carry around my 17” PowerBook. I wrote several reviews in the past on bags from Timbuk2 and Brenthaven, both great bags, but for me, both with mixed results. But I think this company has a real winner with a product they called “Drag Bag”. I will do a full review on this later, but in a nutshell, this is a full backpack style case that is VERY comfortable to ware on your back. But wait, it has wheels and a telescoping handle which lets you put in on the ground and, you guessed it, drag it behind you like a roller cart. I can’t wait to drag this thing around myself, as this may be it, the ultimate bag for my extra heavy PowerBook. Stay tuned, but meanwhile see http://www.thatpack.com for a bit more info.
As I continued to walk the floor, I saw the usual array of stuff from Adobe, Microsoft, and other usual players. Intuit is showing off a new version of TurboTax and Quicken 2005. Both appear to have some cool new features and improved user interfaces, especially TurboTax which has cleaned up the UI in this version to make it easier to use.
HP has an amazing array of new printers in all categories. Their new All-In-One printer blew me away with its built in wireless 802.11. If you use wireless networking at home or in the office, the printer is just “there” for any computer you authorize to use it. I was also very impressed with new low cost laser printers in both B&W and color, and I am told that HP now supports a glossy paper in a color laser writer. This I have to see!
HP has also introduced a new technology called “lightScribe” that they are licensing to a number of DVD writer companies. A new coating on the back of a DVD recordable media disk is “writable” using the very same laser in your DVD writer that burns the data! What this means is after you burn your DVD, you take it out, flip it over and put it back in the burner drive. Simply run the lightScribe software, design your label contents from pictures and text, and press print. The drive uses the same technology that it uses to write the DVD to “burn” the coating revealing your label. LaCie was showing a DVD burner with this technology that should be available soon. Watch this site for a review of this technology, it is very cool.
Did I mention that there were WAY too may iPod accessories everywhere. From head phones, ear buds, and boom boxes to a “built-in” wall speaker and small alcove in which you place your iPod for listening. WAY TOO MANY iPOD THINGS! Help me!
Starry Night was showing new versions of their products, and I must say, I continued to be impressed with this product every time I see it. I reviewed the previous version and will be presenting as new review on the new version soon. Given the complexity of this product, their new “Sky Guide” gives you an HTML like access to hundreds of the products features, and a new “Sky Calendar” shows you upcoming interesting night events in your area.
Walking down one isle, I got my camera lenses and PowerBook screen cleaned at “iKlear.” I still do not fully understand how this product works, but once you clean a surface, fingerprints seem to no longer stick. This is an inexpensive product that really does keep your computer, camera, or iPOD display clean. Somme of their new products now include a synthetic micro-chamois which dries the surface clean but leaves no lint at all, great for cameras. This same micro-chamois is also available as a seperate product to protect your screen from the keyboard on a PowerBook. See http://www.iklear.com.
Also in the very cool category was a product from a company called Solio. For about $100, you get a small pod that rotates open into three “leaves”, each with a solar cell on it. Inside the pod is a battery as well which is charged from these cells, or by plugging this device into a wall wart to charge it faster. The when you need extra power for your iPod, cell phone, or camera, this device provides from 4 to 14 volts automatically at up to 1 watt of power for your battery operated device. A few adapter cables are included, and more are on the way for more devices. In full sunlight, they claim your battery in the device will never drain as it uses power from, the pod and the sun. Definitely in the “cool” product category. See http://www.solio.com.
And of course, no floor tour would be complete without a walk through the Apple booth. Strangely missing were iPods of any kind and I found that strange. I also do not recall seeing any PowerBooks, iMacs, or eMacs there either. Perhaps I just missed them, but I do not think so!
A whole wall of iSticks (that is what I call them) or iPod Shuffle, as Apple calls them were displayed hanging from a bar. The jury is still out for me on this gadget. While I like the idea of a $99 iPod and have said so in the past, the idea that this device chooses the order of the songs randomly (and thus the name) does not work for me. At $149 for a 1 GB version or $99 for half that size, I would have liked to seen a small, 1 line LCD display with some of Apple’s clever UI work to let me select and play the songs in the order I want, and see what I am playing. Yet, I expect this product will do well without it, so what do I know.
The miniMe…uh, Mac Mini I thought was very cool, and plan to get in line early for one of these. Rumor has it that 13% of new Mac first time buyers in the last year were PC users who first bought an iPod and then switched to a Mac. Unfortunately, these same rumors say that many did not switch because they already owned a nice monitor, keyboard and mouse, and felt the iMac or eMac as an entry machine required them to buy another monitor they did not want. Same is true for G3 and G4 tower users who purchased expensive monitors but would like to upgrade to a faster machine. And lets face it, as cool as the G5 is, it is WAY too large for most people, especially new users. I think Apple hit it right on the mark with this device, with one exception. Come on Apple, 256 Meg is just not enough memory any more, especially for new users who will be disappointed at the response of this machine when memory starts getting tight. For $25, add the second 256 Meg and make this a GREAT machine.
I did not get a chance to get even close to Panther, maybe tomorrow. Same for the new iLife or iWork, but others have covered those things already…
Well, back to MacWorld tomorrow for a closer look at a few more products.
If there is something you want some more details on, please respond below and tell me what you want to see or hear more about. I will have my camera with me tomorrow (as I did today, but forgot my transfer cable) and will take requests for pictures of items or products. Do let us know.
And now, back to the conference, already in progress.
-Owen-
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