macworld10
Latest
HyperMac debuts kandy-kolored, streamlined, pocket-sized batteries (vroom! vroom!)
We fell in love with our HyperMac batteries during this year's CES, and now it looks like Sanho's decided to open its net a bit and introduce chargers for all you iPod, iPhone, and future iPad owners. All three models feature aluminum cases in colors that correspond to the ol' iPod nano (pink, red, orange, so on, and so forth), and all three have USB connections for charging your non-Apple gear as well. The HyperMac Nano (fully recharges your iPhone 1.5 times), HyperMac Micro (up to three times), and the HyperMac Mini (up to six times) are available now $70, $90, and $120 respectively -- and if you hop over to HyperMac.com now they'll knock $20 off the asking price. If that doesn't convince you, perhaps a gallery full of model-types showing off the devices will? Nah, probably not. PR after the break. %Gallery-85245%
Macworld 2010 moves to February
IDG World Expo has just announced the dates for Macworld Expo 2010, shifting the conference's historical January jaunt to February. The Macworld 2010 Conference and Expo will take place in San Francisco from February 9 - 13. When I spoke to Paul Kent, the General Manager for Macworld Expo, earlier this afternoon, he stressed that IDG is answering a call from exhibitors and attendees to move the event to a less stressful time of year. Developers won't have to rush through the holidays to finish up software demos that might not be ready for a few months anyway, and exhibitors won't need to balance the holidays and booth-planning all at once. The date change isn't the only new development: the Expo will run from Thursday February 11 - Saturday February 13 (the conference will run from the 9th - 13th). This means that attendees who are full-time professionals won't have to take off as much time from work. Can't make it on Thursday? Come on Saturday. Paul told me the real goal for Macworld 2010 is to make Macworld about the community. After Apple announced that Macworld 2009 would be its last expo, the Mac community (and tech community at large) started speculating about the future of the event. Emerging from all this speculation is an interesting opportunity for Macworld to reinvent itself. IDG announced during Macworld 2009 that Expo-only registration would be free. Already, more than 10,000 people have registered for the 2010 show. Losing the largest show exhibitor does mean that the Expo floor will be scaled down. The Conference will be held in San Francisco's Moscone Center West, while the Expo will be in the North Hall (rather than the North and South as in years past). I think scaling the Expo down is a good idea. It's easier to interact with fellow show-goers in one space. In this economy, scaling down just makes sense. Paul emphasized that there will be a real focus on independent software developers. I think this is a good thing and that Macworld has a real opportunity to define itself as not only a Mac community Woodstock, but also as a place for developers to talk, discuss, learn and show-off their wares. With iPhone development as hot as it is, a stronger focus on that audience has real potential.
iPod / iPhone CES pavilion sells out in record time, quadruples to include Mac products -- goodbye, Macworld?
Damn, it hasn't even been a month since Apple's final Macworld Expo appearance, and it already looks like the show's in trouble -- the CEA just announced that its iPod / iPhone-centric iLounge Pavilion sold out just a week after being announced, and that it's quadrupling in size to include Mac-specific products and retailers as well. That means there's going to be 18,000 square feet of CES solely dedicated to the Apple ecosystem, and without the draw of an Apple product announcement to bring the press to Macworld, it's going to be pretty tough for it to attract the top-tier companies and product launches it needs to survive in the face of the CES juggernaut. We'll see how this plays out -- we've got a feeling next year's Macworld is going to be dramatically different.P.S.- Regardless of what happens, we still think it's really unlikely that Apple itself comes to CES -- why would it ever want to share the spotlight?
