Scott Bourne www.podcastingtricks.com
Derrick Story www.thedigitalstory.com
Chris Breen www.macworld.com and www.playlistmag.com
Colleen Wheeler digitalmedia.oreilly.com

This is part two of our MacWorld coverage. This episode was recorded on the final day of Macworld 2007 in San Francisco andwe're gonna recap all the fun for you... Be sure to visit the iTunes store to subscribe.

Episode 22 for the iLifeZone, January 20, 2007
Macworld Expo 2007 Part 2
43:02

Let's get the show underway!

Scott correctly points out that this is the first Macworld that didn't bring along with itan iLife update but also notes that it's probably because Steve Jobs didn't want to take any of the eyeballs away from the magnificent iPhone . Derrick believes that we will see an iLife '07 this year, but that it'll probably come along with Leopard because it uses features inherent in the operating system. Scott points out that Steve's Keynote (with a capital K, not the speech itself but the presentation that went along with it) presentation had effects that the average Tom Dick & Harry don't have in their copy (this has been mentioned by others including iLifeZone regular John Foster who, according to Leo LaPorte, probably knows Keynote better than anyone including Steve Jobs' own assistant!) meaning updates are probably coming for iWork AND iLife.

Derrick's book was 50% off but is now sold out.

Chris jokingly says there's going to be no more iLife and iWork and instead we're going to get Apple Works 7 (oh God no). He makes a good point, though, that all the things we want iWork to do were already built in to Apple Works. But PLEASE STEVE IGNORE CHRIS. ;-)

Derrick has a conspiracy theory about the iPhone. He thinks that Apple and Cisco's lawsuit may cause Apple to name the iPhone the Apple Phone. Colleen asks Scott if he's still going to pay $1,500 for an iPhone, and Scott admits to abusing child labor laws by saying he's paying some kid that much to stand in line for him (only 132 days left!). Scott points out that we have a link on the iLifeZone website to a site with an iPhone countdown page (shameless plug: I have one I wrote too ) and that for some odd reason, people keep sending him widgets, links, and so on, all to help him countdown to the arrival of the iPhone. Wonder why that is?

Colleen went and took a look at the ModBook at the OWC booth. It's a Wacom Tablet made translucent and stuck on top of a MacBook and they thought to correct the aspect ratio! Colleen explains that if you did this with a typical tablet and no correction, you would get an oval every time you drew a circle. They've also included handwriting recognition, etc (much better than Inkwell ). It includes "guessing" and such as well, meaning it'll show you what you think you're trying to write and it'll fill in for you. They also included gestures for navigation and the built in software doesn't "learn" meaning if your handwriting isn't legible, you'll likely be making the same corrections over and over. The Modbook starts at $2,200. Derrick loves the name of the company, Axiotron .

Scott just got a Nuvi (spelling) from Garmin, and loves it. He has an Australian voice on his that occasionally gets wacky results (WA instead of Washington is read as Western Australia).

Scott predicts that the Apple TV is going to open up a huge opportunity for podcasters. It only supports 720p Hi-Def content, and notes that there is none of it on the iTunes Store but that podcasters are already producing Hi-Def. His theory is that when people hook up their Apple TV, the only content they're going to find in Hi-Def is going to be video podcasts. Derrick agrees even though he calls it a pipedream. The Apple TV does have 802.11n just like all the new Core 2 Duo Macs. The 802.11n will be available in a firmware upgrade. Chris points out that even though the Apple TV supports slower 802.11g, it's less than optimal for watching any kind of long-form content and you'd be better off running a wire. Craig Syverson thinks Scott is completely correct because podcasters will end up producing better looking content than what's on the store. He also makes the excellent point that you can sync your content to the Apple TV and you don't necessarily have to stream it. Tim Street ( French Maid TV ) has been recording his podcast in HD since day 1. His concern is the bandwidth load on his server for providing HD content and he thinks it's going to be important to figure out how to solve that problem. Scott agrees, and also points out that the bandwidth problem was solved once before and it'll probably be solved again, and the more compelling the content, the more likely someone is to provide bandwidth / hosting / etc. for it.

The big point is that podcasts will be listed next to television on your Apple TV menu and that's parity in action. Chris thinks we're going to see a bump in the resolution of the content on the iTunes store, but Scott disagrees. Chris' point is that it would be a waste for Apple to release an HD device and have no HD content for you to play on it (He's got ya there, Scott). Scott notes that the Apple TV is version 1.0 and plenty of devices have undergone transformations from 1.0 to current ( TiVo anyone?)

Scott asks the audience how many are going to buy the iPhone within 30 days. 50 percent said they will buy it within 30 days, 20 percent are already Cingular customers. Some won't switch because it's Cingular. Everyone is glad that Stan Sigman isn't standing up there with his notecards like at the keynote.

Scott notes that this keynote was unusual because there was nothing to run out to the Apple store and buy.

Colleen goes into the crowd to interview audience members about anything they saw that they were excited about.

One audience member had a SupaCam camera . He hadn't tried it yet, but hoped it would be worth what he paid. He was told the device would be double the price when it hit stores.

Another listener mentioned the Belkin Tune Studio . It's very neat because you can plug your iPod into it and it has actual XLR jacks.

One listener brought up the Newer Technologies USB adapter for hard disks . Tres cool!

The token woman (just kidding, Lisa) in the crowd liked that the prices were coming down on the Canon printers. Derrick agreed and pointed out that all the printer manufacturers are doing some great stuff this year with their printers. He also recommends the Epson Watercolor Paper in Radiant White for image quality if you use an Epson printer.

Lee Gibbons dropped by for a bit and explained what Podango was all about.

Scott noted that this year Macworld definitely outshined CES this year. Chris thinks that's a sign of how successful Apple's been this year. He noted how the iPhone dominated the tech headlines this year, and how Apple is definitely back from the downpoint it was at a few years ago. He also noted that Macworld is a much better show to attend because it's smaller and more digestable.

Colleen bumped into some folks from CES who thought the show was uninteresting and they were worn out from it. They were happier to be at Macworld.

Colleen visited Marware who demonstrated an upcoming leather cuff you attach your Shuffle to. This is perfect for those who might leave it in their pocket on laundry day (Chris, I'm looking at you, buddy). Colleen would like a heart rate monitor in that same band also, and Scott thinks it would be perfect for monitoring his heart while watching the lovely ladies on French Maid TV.

Chris Breen's final thought: The show was great and exciting and he was slightly disappointed because he wanted to buy some new stuff.

Derrick Story's final thought: He's so happy to be in San Francisco and not Las Vegas at CES.

Colleen Wheeler's final thought: It was only her third Macworld, and for digital media types it's a great show to go to.

Scott Bourne's final thought: Mac fever is really obvious at Macworld. He draws a comparison to Harley owners and says that Harley Davidson owners love their bikes like Mac owners love their Macs and the more time you spend around shows like Macworld, the more obvious it becomes.

A special thanks to Macworld magazine for lending us Chris and the space for the show!

This episode was sponsored by M-Audio and Podango .

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The next show lands on February 1, 2007. For more information email us at info@ilifezone.com.

Thanks to Pixelcorps for production assistance with the iLifeZone and Libsyn for hosting services.

Thanks also to Vincent Ferrari for the shownotes!