Mid-January is always a good time to be a Mac user. The annual Macworld trade show is like winning the lottery on Christmas to all the Apple faithful. Every year in San Francisco, a dizzying array of Apple software and hardware developers gather to show off their latest ideas and products. Apple of course is there, headlined by a keynote from Steve Jobs who announces the newest shiny toys and software from the company.
I’m lucky this year as I get to attend Macworld. For years now, for those of you who don’t know, I’ve been an admin for Mac-Forums.com and this year, our parent company, iNET Interactive is flying me out to attend the show and blog about what I experience. Jeremiah and Arthur are flying up from Los Angeles for a few days so I’m also excited to be able to hang out with them.
I’m not really sure what to expect since I’ve never gone, but I know there are some vendors I really want to see, some pretty cool user conferences to attend, and of course I get to be at the Keynote on Tuesday.
There have been lots of predictions but, to be honest, what I want most from Apple are probably two things that won’t be announced at the show:
- AppleTV with a cable TV tuner so it can actually behave as a DVR. Being able to rent movies from the device would also be cool.
- An iPhone without the iPod. When my T-Mobile contract is up later this year I’m going to switch to AT&T so I can get an iPhone. But I really don’t need an iPhone with a music player, I have an iPod. I’d like a cheaper iPhone.
In the end, I’m bound to have a great time. I’ve never been to Macworld and never been to California; should be a lot to see and experience. Now, where’s the stewardess with my breakfast?
Just an iChat with great friends, Ryan, Adam, Matt, and Jeremiah.
Max OS X 10.5, Leopard, is crammed with over 300 new features. I’ve already got it pre-ordered and am eagerly anticipating it’s arrival. Of course, like everyone, I have my favorite new features so without further ado, I bring you a list (in no particular order):
- Greater .Mac syncing: Widgets, System Prefs, Dock, etc.
- Stacks
- System-wide grammar checking
- All of the long overdue iCal features
- Tabbed chat support and Screen Sharing in iChat
- To-Dos and Data Detectors in Mail
- New Airport menu
- Word of the Day screen saver
- Spotlight Application Launching
- Time Machine
“AT&T is like an overweight slob that’s been given a chance to date a supermodel; if it doesn’t shape up soon, it’ll be easily replaced.” -CNN Article
I would love to get an iPhone, however, I won’t switch back to AT&T for it, it’s just not worth it to me. I’ll wait for the 3rd Gen iPhone when it’s available on T-Mobile.
This weekend I bought a new Intel Core2Duo iMac. It’s name is Nero. Adam says all my iMacs have had angry names, the last one being Caligula. Perhaps he’s right, but so far Nero hasn’t burned the apartment down.
Just in case you ever had the desire to dress like the guy in the Apple ads, LifeClever has an entire guide for you complete with prices and links to purchase the clothes. The scary thing is that I’m sure there are people out there who will do it. 
Yesterday I ordered my new MacBook from Apple.com. I ordered the 2.0 Ghz white version. Besides the fact that I feel the black version is “un-Apple” I just can’t fathom spending $200 more just for black. It’s expected ship date is June 13th but I’m hoping for sooner.
It will affectionately be called Claudius. Courtney becomes the proud new owner of my old G4 iBook, take care of Tiberius for me.
I really want one of the new MacBooks. Anybody want to buy a slightly used 12″ iBook G4? 
I really enjoy Apple’s new commercials in the Get A Mac campaign. I just am afraid they may be a little over the head of the average consumer, but they are clever.
I’m into my last week of classes for my first semester back at school. I have to say that I totally forgot how hard classes can be, especially now when coupled with full-time employment and all my other responsibilities, but it’s definitely been worth it.
Right now I’m sitting here are Starbucks doing some homework and this retinue of WASP soccer moms has just decended around me with their oboxious children. The one woman quite possibly has the most annoying voice ever, I wish she’d go away.
One of the other moms just asked her daugter if she liked to eat Jesus at church. There’s just something so wrong with that statement.
