A Trip to Macworld Expo 2008

A few thoughts about this year’s trip.

I’m sitting in the terminal at San Francisco International Airport, waiting for my flight home. I’m just finishing up a 30-hour trip to the city for Macworld Expo.

The show, which used to take up both North and South Halls at Moscone, now fills just the South Hall and the new West Hall, which is much smaller and far more inconvenient. It was there that I had to go to get my badge for entry. I’d pre-registered, but that didn’t matter. There were still very long lines of “bar code holders” waiting for the all-important magnetic stripped card, plastic card holder, and lanyard.

The South Hall floor was full of exhibitors. Apple’s booth was the the biggest, as it has been at all shows for the past few years (at least). It featured subdued lighting, a huge auditorium-like setup that could seat at least 200 people in front of a big screen where Apple staff conducted demos. A table that had to be at least 100 feet long had enough MacBook Air computers (with their handlers) for all of us to take turns fondling them. Two other displays, one on either side of the booth, strung MacBook Air computers on cables stretched from the ceiling to the floor, giving the illusion, from a distance, that they were floating on air. There were also computers and televisions set up showing off all Apple products, but especially the other one announced at the Keynote: AppleTV Take 2, showing movies.

I was at the show to speak at the Peachpit booth, so after a lunch meeting with two of my editors and one of the chief guys for Safari, I spent a bunch of time there. My presentation went surprisingly well. Although I used to make a good part of my living doing classroom training and other presentations, I no longer teach and I seldom speak in front of a group anymore. So when I got good, positive reactions from the standing room only crowd of 30 or so in Peachpit’s booth, it felt good. Not bad, considering I put together my entire presentation on the plane four hours before I gave it and didn’t practice it once. (I always was good at “winging it.”)

Of course, I did forget to give away the copy of my Leopard book that I’d lugged with me. (650+ pages is heavy.)

Elsewhere on the Floor

I walked the floor alone. A few things come to mind thinking over it:

• At one booth selling iPod/iPhone covers for $20, people were “going naked” by stripping off their old covers, tossing them in a lucite bin, and replacing them with the new covers. Some of the covers in the bin were very nice. I wonder if they’ll show up at a garage sale next week.
• Google had a booth. It’s the first time I ever saw a Google booth and I was mildly surprised. It was a very small booth and it was jam-packed with people who overflowed into the aisles.
• FileMaker, Inc. had a nice, big booth, as usual. I went in to watch a Bento demo and was very disappointed when the demo guy (1) read his entire presentation off a sheet of paper and (2) began doing the same demo that was available on the FileMaker Web site as a QuickTime movie. So I found a one-on-one demo person with a computer and listened to the questions and answers she gave others. Together, we came up with a solution for one user who wanted to build an e-mail list from two groups of people without duplicating names. The ability to solve a problem like that after spending only 15 minutes with the software (so far) gives me the idea that it’ll be pretty easy to learn.
• Another company was selling USB thumb drives — that is what they’re called, isn’t it? — shaped like animal bones and mice and other cute things. The product was from China and everyone in the booth was Chinese. Very little English spoken. Cute and the price was right, but I don’t need one so I resisted the urge to buy.
• Another company was selling a battery that can be charged/recharged via A/C adapter or USB. The battery can then be used to recharge cell phones, iPods, cameras, etc. An interesting solution for a problem I don’t think is sufficient enough to warrant a solution. Yes, when I travel, I bring a lot of recharging cables with me. But do I really need yet another device to power my devices?
• Belkin’s booth was set up like a house and featured two live musicians. A memorable booth, but frankly, I can’t remember any of the products they were pushing, so it couldn’t have been too effective.
• Sinbad, the comedian, was there. I remember the first time I’d seen him at a Macworld Expo show. It was way back when, the year that Keep It Simple Spreadsheet (K.I.S.S.) had been released. (CE Software? Not sure.) He’d been watching a demo at the booth and the kind of people who like to crowd around celebrities were watching him. He was at the height of his career back then. Now I don’t know what he’s doing. But I do know that I was probably one of the few who recognized him. I considered saying hello, but didn’t want to embarrass either of us.

There are photos of some of these things and more on my TumbleLog.

Beyond Macworld

By 4:30 PM, I’d had enough. I walked to my hotel, the Nikko, on O’Farrell. When I asked for a room on an upper floor, they upgraded me to a suite on the top floor. My room featured an entrance hall, bedroom with two beds, living room with two sofas, two bathrooms, three televisions (including one in one of the bathrooms), a stereo, a bathtub and shower big enough to host a party, and great views out to the west. Sometimes, you just get lucky. Needless to say, once I settled in, I wasn’t too interested in leaving.

But I had a party to go to — two, to be exact — so I headed out again at 6. The Peachpit Author party was at a gallery called Varnish. It was a good location with plenty of space, good food, and sufficient free drinks. A good party. It was especially great to see some author friends, many of whom I hadn’t seen in well over a year. I was having such a good time, in fact, that I wasn’t interested in leaving to go to the other party. I was chatting with a bunch of authors twenty minutes after the party as supposed to have ended when the gallery staff told us they were locking up. We got the message and left.

Using my good cab hailing arm, I had no trouble getting a cab on 2nd Street. A fellow author and I were heading out to the other party, which was supposed to be the “hot” party of the show, with live music by the Macworld All-Star Band. We dropped off two other authors near their hotel and went to the address on Post. About 100 people waited on line in front of the place. I figured they didn’t have invitations, but I was wrong. They had the same invitation I had. I don’t wait in line for many things and a party isn’t tone of them. So I hailed another cab, dropped off my friend near his hotel, and went back to the Nikko. I was in bed watching one of the big televisions by 11:30.

Tourist Time

That was yesterday.

Today I was a tourist. I rode the cable car from Powell and Market to Fisherman’s Wharf, taking pictures all the way. I’ll post them in a blog entry on An Eclectic Mind.

I did stop by the Apple Store on Market. It’s a really nicely designed store, with a glass staircase leading up to the second floor and skylights showing the skyscrapers around it. I took a bunch of shots with my fisheye lens, including this one. I do want to note with some pleasure that my book was on the shelves there.

In all, it was a good trip and I’m glad I went.