Three days, lots of information, much rushing around, information overload, exhaustion, looking forward to going home and crashing.
That’s my summary of MacWorld San Francisco 2006. We’ve been up here since Monday, and have been having a great time. We saw Steve Jobs’ keynote on Tuesday and so saw the announcement of the first Intel Macs and the new MacBook Pro (which, fyi, looks just like a Powerbook but that’s where the resemblance ends) and iLife 06. Wow! We tried to buy iLife 06 right away, but it was only available online. Oh well.
To get in to see the keynote, we had to sign up for the Users Conference, so we also attended some of the sessions. I stuck with Mac OS X tricks and tips which were okay, but a little too beginner for me. Today I went to a session on blogging and RSS that was actually quite informative and entertaining. Chuck followied the digital photography track and got a bit more out of his sessions, including a renewed enthusiasm to take more photos.
We spent a lot of time in the Exhibit Hall (where we were first struck with how nice it was to not be an exhibitor!) where we saw many cool things and bought a few. I was on a quest for a good case for my video iPod and after a good deal of looking and nearly going for the STM iPod Cocoon, I bought the iSnug from HandStands, along with their Bullet-Proof Shield and an accessory case. A good deal at $35, I thought. The sheer volume of iPod paraphenalia was breathtaking – just the number of iSkins and all their variations was amazing. We also stocked up on iKlear, which is the best screen cleaning fluid and cloths we’ve found. Chuck also salivated a good bit over the Nikon D200 and an 18-200mm lens but in the end decided to keep looking.
Other neat news: Garmin is going Mac! Yes, all of their new products (like the Nuvi 350 and the Forerunner 301) will be using Mac software in the near future! Expect beta versions very soon! Also finally ready for prime time: Google Earth for the Mac! Yippee!!!
We left the Moscone Center today pretty brain dead but satisfied. We ordered iLife 06 online and expect it to arrive Saturday and look forward to many happy hours spent playing with Garage Band’s new Podcast Studio and iPhoto’s new book and calendar templates and the very cool-sounding iWeb (which can be exported to any website – not just a .Mac account). My niece is over the moon with her Apple stock which topped $83 yesterday, up from her original purchase price a few years ago of $20. Go Apple!