Macworld Expo has always been a worthwhile vacation destination for us. Even as we have watched the buildings in San Francisco change, the products featured at the show change year by year. The buildings get bigger, the products get smaller. As you know by now, this time the grand announcements were the iPod shuffle and Mac mini. The Apple announcements were a little flat due to the people who broke their non-disclosure agreements. So flat, in fact, that I felt the Mac mini was pushed to the background in favor of an iPod that is pretty plain. Yes I know they are selling like hotcakes and Apple is very pleased about that. I just feel that the real show stopper was the Mac mini. With its compact design and its breakthrough pricing it should have been the star of the show. So I hereby deem this Macworld was misnamed and that iPod World should have been on the banners.

The problem is when you hear someone talking about the "mini," now you don't know if it is iPod Mini, Mac mini—or Mini Cooper. Yes, there were some of those on the show floor too.

As you must know by now Apple has released their very first computer priced under $500. This price point is Apple's attempt to compete in the consumer computer market. This hopefully will improve the numbers of people switching from PCs, as I have heard the line, “if Apple had a computer under $500 I'd buy one” for years. So here you are Switchers, an Apple computer for under $500. The problem produced by the under $500 machine is that Apple has to cope with the loss of sales from people who would have purchased a full-sized iMac. When you produce a sub-$500 unit there is very little profit to be made from these models. That should not be too much of a problem due to the fact that you still need a keyboard, mouse and screen (monitor) to use the mini, and Apple is counting on people buying theirs. The crazy part of this is that if you buy a Mac mini at $500 and an Apple mouse and keyboard for $100 and a 17-inch Apple monitor for $600 you are within $100 of owning a G5 iMac. However, many people still own a CRT monitor or can buy a 17-inch for $150 or less. Keyboards sell for under $40 and mice for around $15.

The two new devices are great to look at, but it is hard to say very much about them. As smaller versions of existing devices, there are not lots of new features to describe. There are not fancy new switches or flashing lights. If you think you might want one, check out the Apple website or your favorite computer store for the latest options. The iPod shuffle does have a real "off" switch, but does not have a lock switch. So you would want to carry it someplace where it would not get bumped. Because the price is lower, I keep thinking—yes, go get one! But we don't use our older iPod as frequently as we could. There are many accessories for it—and many vendors are trying to help you carry it, put it in your house and car, or change it from the trademark white.

XtremeMac (www.xtrememac.com) was one of the vendors with a large booth, and in addition to many styles of cases, were showing their new FM transmitter device, the AirPlay. Special headphones, connections for your car or boat, and even ways to wall-mount your iPod and connect it to your home speaker system were all available. Perhaps one of the most unusual was the company who built speakers into luggage—they say there is no problem going through airport security, and that way you always have great sound with you. And you don't need to be traveling, but could use it for any event where speakers are not already available. Check it out at www.boombags.com.

Why is the Mac mini the breakthrough product? Two years ago Steve Jobs would never have let the mini see the light of day; it was all about profit margins. The success of the iPod has given the mini its chance. However, it all depends on how well the mini was engineered and constructed. The iPod has very few moving parts and repairs are pretty quick with little expense to Apple's bottom line. The new Mac mini seems that it will have a place for those who have been wanting to upgrade. The next cool accessory may be a small portable screen to go with it. Shades of… This will work well for the person who only wants to carry the Mac from place to place; but if you want to use your computer quickly—the laptop is still the proper device.

There were many other interesting things. Among the changes made to the iLife suite of applications, I think the most significant are to iPhoto. In the past if you needed fine-tuned control over a slideshow, you may have needed to edit with another application and put the photos into iMovie. But now you can do more adjustments right in iPhoto. You can have the pictures displayed for different lengths of time. This makes it much easier to make your slideshow match the time if you are putting it to a piece of music.<

Another big change is that in GarageBand you can now get musical notation from the music you create, instead of the bar representation. This, in addition to a new Jam Pack that allows expanded orchestral instruments, will let us make even more music, and then share it with others.

If you are wanting to get a new G5 iMac, and bring it to MacCamp, we can point you to a company making a carry case for it. LTA Products took the idea of making a case that slips over the top and thus you are carrying the Mac upside-down. This gives it better fit than trying to push the metal base into the bag first. The price during the show was $99. You can check their website at www.ilugger.com.

The surprise attendee was that Quark was at the show telling us they were opening their standards in version 6.5. This, in my mind, is a little too late; they need a product overhaul and they need to catch up from dragging their feet on OS X. Many of their middle-of-the-line customer base have gone to InDesign and now the higher end folks are following after seeing that their product is now second best. Quark should know they are in trouble from the number of dedicated Quark fans leaving their platform. Here are just some of their problems. Support staff based in India who for the most part speak with (to me) heavy accents. An attitude that if you need to reinstall the application, you must be pirating their software. Upgrades that give you very little and cost way too much. A product that imports your old files, allows you to do major changes, then corrupts the final project without warning. My best advise for Quark users is to rebuild your old projects and reflow your text and relink your pictures; if you don't do this, be ready to start over when the project blows up.

The biggest suprise no-show at Macworld was Macromedia, creators of Dreamweaver, Flash, FreeHand, etc. They were in the index and seemed to have pulled out of the show at the very last minute. Usually if you have signed up for the show it's because you have new product to introduce. I'm just hoping the new product intro was pushed back and that this is not a withdrawal from the Mac market by Macromedia.

Also this year, there was not a company with a large (tractor trailer sized) display of hardware/peripherals/software for sale. Previously this had been someone like MacWarehouse or Dev Depot; this year only eUnitek and Marin Mac Shop had small booths.

Books—there are mountains of books out there to help you with your applications. Longtime distributors Peachpit Press and O'Reilly were there, as well as Wiley and Sybex. Many of them have books by well-known people; and you can pick which ones you find easiest to follow.

Apple has discontinued the standalone Soundtrack audio software. This happened with no notice or replacement product. [It appears that Soundtrack and LiveType are now included with FinalCut Express and Pro. ed]

Most vendors at the show appeared to be doing very well with product demos and product sales. One vendor who was selling a service of helping you put up eBay items for sale was doing a booming business. It just goes to show you how big eBay is and how many people want to use the service.

Panic (www.panic.com) from Portland received a Best of Show award for the latest version of their FTP application, Transmit.

In other PMUG news, we are excited to have made the decision to move the PMUG monthly General Meetings to a new location that is still centrally located. The Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center (also known as the Ecotrust building) is at 721 NW 9th, which is very near the main US Post Office building in the north part of downtown. We will have our first meeting there on February 14—bring your sweetheart with you. We look forward to this and other meetings that can take advantage of their advanced multimedia presentation facilities.The Natural Capital Center is on the Portland Streetcar line and offers over fifty parking spaces for bicycles as one way of promoting the use of alternative transportation.

MacCamp 40 is coming up in April, and we encourage you to sign up early. We are trying to make this a true celebration and have been contacting vendors to help sponsor this event. I can't tell you everything, but there will be doorprizes.

While it seemed hard to write this article, it looks like it will be easy to find things to write about for future issues. What we need to know is what else would you like to know? Are there products that you cannot find proper instructions for? What would be good for a Saturday class at the PMUG office? You can let us know by emailing charles@pmug.org.

       Previous Article  Home   Winds Index  Next Article