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Macworld San Francisco 2010 Best of Show and Day One Impressions

Impressions

I have attended every MacWorld since its inception. I had hoped MacWorld would survive without Apple. It didn't; it was simply awful. It was the worst of Macworld ever. Held on the "B" side of Mosconi, the booths were mostly second-tier. The space was way to small for the number of people in attendance. Although I signed up early and got a free exhibits only pass, we paid $45 for the same pass for my wife. Total ripoff!! They should not have charged anything for the exhibits. I didn't attend any of the training sessions so perhaps they were better? Don't waste your money or time on this. So sad......
 
As someone who's relatively new to the Mac community and someone whose never attended a Macworld can someone fill me in as to why there's so much hostility towards the event on this forum? I see myself as an outsider looking in with no dog in this fight and can't help but notice this. I would think the Mac community would look forward to attending any event that had products related to the Mac regardless of if Apple attended or not.
 
MacRumors said:
Impressions from both vendors and long time attendees were quite positive, given the number of visitors.
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I am there (here), working the iPhone Life Magazine booth (#567... please stop by!) and I can tell you we haven't had a break in the action. It's certainly a smaller area but the attendees are packed in, interested, and asking thoughtful questions. Some even discussed MacRumors with me!!!

We are blowing through the thousands of magazines we brought to give out. Half the inventory is left and yesterday was a short-day (12-6). Two full days left, and Saturday is expected to be big because people are off from work.

My recommendation would be to have the area split into three parts, one side iDevice-related items only, on the other side, Mac-related items only, and in the middle, vendors who serve both. Then it would be a little easier to navigate. And if they convince people that they are service the i-community as well as the mac folks, it may be an easier sell to keep the show going.

And LeVar Burton was great. Not only a fine actor, but a nice guy, and a gadget guy. Perfect choice.
 
MrSmith said:
A 70's drama, nerd TV and some American kids' program? Silly me. :rolleyes:
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I have to laugh a bit, You're calling Star Trek "Nerd TV" in a derogatory manor while posting on what most would consider a Nerf Forum, and have an Alien-Ship for your Avatar, Some might call that a bit "Nerdy" as well.

I embrace my Geeky/Nerdy side. Maybe you'd enjoy Star Trek more than you think. My Wife knows I like star trek so for Christmas she got me one of the seasons, she wasn't sure how much she would enjoy them or not, but turns out she liked them quite a lot. Sure some of the graphics are pretty cheesy by today's standards but they still are good enough to convey a good story. Gene Roddenberry was a pretty good guy. Also as for the Apple Fanboy/Star Trek tie-ins here's a couple:

Apple Fans tend like quality, and a touch of geekyness both qualities can be found in Apple products and Star Trek

Some folks feel the recent iPad release is a step closer to the Pad like devices they had in Star Trek to read books, send communications, and other things.

And Deng I'd love to meet LeVar burton :)
 
mingoglia said:
As someone who's relatively new to the Mac community and someone whose never attended a Macworld can someone fill me in as to why there's so much hostility towards the event on this forum?
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Because the interweb is full of bored people who have nothing to do but bitch and whine. Besides, some folk would complain if you gave them a free cheeseburger because you forgot/included the pickle.

IMO, if it works, it works. Maybe not for all, but if it works for some good for them.
 
This Inklet is cool, but a graphic tablet is tracking the pen, which the trackpad is not able too. this makes it kinda hard to use, but I am not much of an artist anyway. However with very soft finger touch it does not actually paint so you can use it similar to a graphic tablet... This might actually solve my problem with drawing graphs while taking notes in my classes. :D

94745837.jpg
 
I can't put my finger on it...

...but all the coverage of MW2010 that I've seen has had the feel of the early-90s period when Jobs was at NeXT. A weird vibe, like a general lack of focus. I don't worship Steve, but wow, does this prove the overall unifying vision that he brings to Apple.

I sold Apple products from 1991-1995 and I clearly remember the way we felt defensive about our floundering platform and uncertain future. I certainly don't think that's the case today, but my impression of MW2010 is that a lot of people left thinking, "That's it?"
 
Looks like a complete borefest with fanboys gathering around. These people just need to attend CES. That way ALL of the tech journalists would be there and mainstream journalists. Nobody cares about Macworld. Apple WAS Macworld.
 
Full Keynote?

Anyone know if the full Pogue Keynote is available anywhere? I took a quick look at the MacworldExpo website and didn't see anything
 
Chaos123x said:
What's with all the Levar Burton hate? He seems like a really nice guy. Wow the kids on this site are making me feel old but the last TNG movie was in 2002. I guess people under 10 would not know.
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I don't hate the guy, but I do remember him being really arrogant to an Apple store employee this one time because he didn't have any legitimate ID for his purchase. His reaction was to turn and shout towards all the other customers and get them to acknowledge who he was just because the employee didn't recognise him.

You could say the Apple employee should know better, not be a robot, not follow protocol so much and give him a pass (but where does that stop with such gratis concerning other *famous* people). On the flip side the employee was doing his job, Levar could have just got his ID and respected his follow man, working on Star Trek, didn't its philosophy rub off on him?
 
It still has potential ....

I think people just need to re-adjust their expectations, and come to grips with the reality that the "MacWorld" event is not about Apple themselves, anymore.

People who simply wanted to attend because it was a chance to hear Steve Jobs give a presentation will say "It's dead!" But people who welcome an opportunity for 3rd. party vendors to show off what they've done with a Mac will have no reason to ignore future MacWorlds. Actually, I think it could become a really good thing for the right 3rd. party vendors, because they won't always be overshadowed by Apple's own product releases.

I liken this to the "good old days" when I owned a Radio Shack "Tandy Color Computer". There used to be a yearly event called "Rainbowfest" at McCormick Center in Chicago for the machines -- and I don't ever recall Radio Shack showing up in an official capacity at all. The limelight was always on all the great, creative things being done by the 3rd. parties. That made the event BETTER, really, because Radio Shack had stores everywhere, where you could go see THEIR stuff any old time. It's the relatively obscure stuff you'd otherwise only see in a 1 page magazine ad that was worth making a trip for.


dernhelm said:
But their attendance numbers have turned out to be pretty good. Nothing like when Apple was attending, but no one expected that. It appears that MacWorld may actually be able to survive in it's currently reduced form for a little while longer. That's better than many expected.
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You know, looking at the photo on the article. It feels a bit strange to see a Microsoft booth / logo there and not an Apple one. I do wish even if Apple wasn't going to use the event to launch new products or anything that they would still come have a presence just to show support for the community. They could have had some iPads there to play with, etc. Again, not to announce anything new, or have a big elaborate booth but just to show support and be a part of the community.
 
iOrlando said:
whats up with Levar Burton?

is there some sort of freaky connection between fanboys and reading rainbow?

i was pretty sure Levar Burton became a nobody years ago. A bigger star would be someone from gossip girl or even Good Morning America.

but like I said, maybe fanboys really like to read or something.

Anyone with insight..please share.

oo and I dont really think you can look at this years attendance and conclude macworld is good to go for the future. The whole thing is still going off of fumes from last year.
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The look and feel of Star Trek technology, especially since The Next Generation, has always reminded me of Apple products. Also, Apple products reminds me of Star Trek.

When i held the first iphone when it came out, i could have sworn the time police were going to pop out from nowhere and confiscate it cause it was so advanced!

Did you watch the newest Star Trek movie? The movie made it look like they made the Enterprise out of Apple products... Or maybe Apple designed the tech for the federation.

Also, i think it doesn't take much brainpower to figure out that those interested in computers and software enough to attend a trade show are probably big science fiction buffs, and Star Trek is a major science fiction franchise that pretty much set the standard for any other televised or filmed science fiction that came after. So if you like science fiction, you most likely like Star Trek, and if you like Star Trek, you most certainly like The Next Generation

Lastly, Star Trek always had a theme of optimism and altruism. The idea that humanity could better itself, become a perfect society and do away with money, war, famine, etc. Exploring and not conquering, and all that jazz. I feel that some of those values (but not all, clearly Apple cares about money) are shared by Steve Jobs and Apple in general. Perhaps Steve feels that Apple can help mankind achieve whatever utopia they achieved in Star Trek.

I know Steve wasen't there this year, but i mean this in a broader sense.

thoughts?
 
Eric S. said:
Wow, I wonder what it says when I have absolutely no interest in any of the "Best of Show" products?
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Macworld is dead. Although, Leo Laporte is going to be doing live coverage in about 30 minutes, so it ain't dead if Leo is there. He's the best.
 
MacToddB said:
I am there (here), working the iPhone Life Magazine booth (#567... please stop by!) and I can tell you we haven't had a break in the action. It's certainly a smaller area but the attendees are packed in, interested, and asking thoughtful questions. Some even discussed MacRumors with me!!!
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Glad to hear it was a good show! (and MacRumors is being talked about )
 
It's really simple...

mingoglia said:
As someone who's relatively new to the Mac community and someone whose never attended a Macworld can someone fill me in as to why there's so much hostility towards the event on this forum? I see myself as an outsider looking in with no dog in this fight and can't help but notice this. I would think the Mac community would look forward to attending any event that had products related to the Mac regardless of if Apple attended or not.
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Many Apple fans view Steve Jobs as a supreme leader. If Steve likes MacWorld they do too. If Steve stops attending the event, they start hating it (and Adobe, and Nokia and MS and Dell and everthing else in this world) ;)
 
theydonotmove said:
The look and feel of Star Trek technology, especially since The Next Generation, has always reminded me of Apple products. Also, Apple products reminds me of Star Trek.

When i held the first iphone when it came out, i could have sworn the time police were going to pop out from nowhere and confiscate it cause it was so advanced!

Did you watch the newest Star Trek movie? The movie made it look like they made the Enterprise out of Apple products... Or maybe Apple designed the tech for the federation.

Also, i think it doesn't take much brainpower to figure out that those interested in computers and software enough to attend a trade show are probably big science fiction buffs, and Star Trek is a major science fiction franchise that pretty much set the standard for any other televised or filmed science fiction that came after. So if you like science fiction, you most likely like Star Trek, and if you like Star Trek, you most certainly like The Next Generation

Lastly, Star Trek always had a theme of optimism and altruism. The idea that humanity could better itself, become a perfect society and do away with money, war, famine, etc. Exploring and not conquering, and all that jazz. I feel that some of those values (but not all, clearly Apple cares about money) are shared by Steve Jobs and Apple in general. Perhaps Steve feels that Apple can help mankind achieve whatever utopia they achieved in Star Trek.

I know Steve wasen't there this year, but i mean this in a broader sense.

thoughts?
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I dont have an issue with any of those thoughts. My issue is connecting Levar Burton with all that you said. I mean if you wanted to go the star trek route have spock or some other more known character. I had no clue Lamar Burton was in Star Trek. He had a thing covering his eyes for goodness sake. and i still think this has more to do with his reading rainbow notoriety than star trek. many stoners are in love with the reading rainbow theme and opening credits. its quite a freaky few minutes of television.
 
Worst ever

I have been to every MacWorld since 1996 and this is tied for one of the worst ever. There were some bad shows in the beige days but this was exceptional in the lack of actual Mac content. The professional Mac user, like myself, has seen the useful content steadily decrease while consumer items increased.
Now it was really more of an iPhone flea market. Charging an entrance fee is like charging a fee to go to the mall.
It took me less than an hour to see everything there...twice.
 
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