Macworld

Today in Apple history: Beginning of the end for clone Macs

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Power Computing clone Macs sounded like a good idea at first.
Clone Macs sounded like a good idea at first.
Photo: Antnik

August 5: Today in Apple history: Beginning of the end for Power Computing Mac clones August 5, 1997: Apple gets into a standoff with Power Computing, a maker of Macintosh clones. It marks the beginning of the end for Apple’s mid-’90s strategy of licensing the Mac operating system.

“If the [Mac] platform goes closed, it is over,” predicts Power Computing CEO Joel J. Kocher of Apple’s strategy. “[It’s] total destruction. The kiss of death.” Of course, things don’t turn out exactly like that for Apple…

Relive Steve Jobs’ unveiling of the original iPhone at Macworld 2007

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Steve Jobs
One of the greatest product unveilings in history.
Photo: Apple

Whether you write about it on a daily basis or just use it to stay in touch with your friends, family and the world around you, the iPhone is such a big part of our lives today that it’s difficult to remember what it was like before it existed.

With today marking 10 years since the original iPhone going on sale, it’s worth venturing back in time to check out Steve Jobs’ original unveiling of the iPhone at the 2007 Macworld.

This is the moment everything changed — and our Moto Q, Palm Treo and Nokia E62 handsets suddenly looked very, very dated:

WritePDF Takes PDF Reading, Annotating And Converting To The Next Level

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WritePDF

 

macworldbugSAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/iWORLD 2013 – WritePDF, a PDF editing application for iPad / iPhone, does things that even Adobe’s mobile PDF reader cannot do, according to New Zealand software developer EuroSmartz. With WritePDF you can convert any files including your calendar and web pages to PDF files, print to any printer using your mobile device, and share your PDFs using in-app e-mail function. And it’s all done safely in the Cloud so you don’t need to download first.

Amazingly Priced Headphones And Mobile Accessories By GoGo Tech / Tech&Go

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macworldbugSAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/iWORLD 2013 – I’m not exaggerating — these headphones I found exhibiting at Macworld are just about the best iPod headphones I’ve heard. Full bass, beautiful high-end, loud, little incoming leakage from the outside world, really comfy and adjustable and look great in several bright color options. They are really well made. And the price! Guess how much they are?

How Jobs Made Kutcher Weep And Our Best-Of-Show Picks On The CultCast [Macworld 2013]

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macworldbugSAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/iWORLD 2013 – It was clear during his panel that playing Steve Jobs touched actor Ashton Kutcher in a deep and poignant way… but when he started choking back tears when speaking about the tech luminary, things started getting weird.

Yes, team Cult is here at Macworld 2013, and we’re reporting live from the show on our all-new CultCast.

Couldn’t make it this year? Don’t worry, we sat through 60 minutes of actors Kutcher and Josh Gad describing the process of making their new JOBS movie so you wouldn’t have to. Catch our new episode to find out what Jobs said that made Kutcher teary-eyed whilst reciting it, and why he and fellow actor Josh Gad feel Woz’s recent harsh criticism of their movie just isn’t fair.

Then—from the cool, to the useful, to the downright whacky—it’s our favorite Apple tech from the show!

All that on our newest CultCast plus, JJ Abrams, Star Wars Savior! Read on for the show notes.

Top 5 Things To Do In San Francisco During Macworld/iWorld 2013

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scoot
Image courtesy Scoot Networks.

macworldbugSAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/iWORLD 2013 – After you’ve brushed up on your iPhone photography skills and checked out the gadgets on the Expo floor, there’s still a few Apple-related things to do in San Francisco.

It’s a bit disappointing that the strip clubs have decided to stop offering their usual MacWorld free passes – and we don’t recommend you follow Apple maps to the Tenderloin to visit “My Butt,” either — but here are a few ideas.

Digital Art at Macworld – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly [Macworld 2011]

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SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2011 — Given the explosion of visual art inspired by mobile devices running Mac iOS and apps developed to help artists create work on them, it came as a bit of a surprise to see the way Macworld organizers chose to display digital art at the 2011 Conference and Expo.

The Expo’s art was placed in “digital art galleries” displayed on 27″ Samsung wide-screen TVs housed in unobtrusive kiosks, dispersed in the cavernous hallways of the 2nd and 3rd floors, where only a portion of the conference’s attendees — media personnel and those who purchased something other than Expo Only tickets — was likely to see it.

This is curious in the light of recent attention given to the digital creations of artists producing work on the Mac platform, which in years past could be seen framed, on brightly-lit wall space, in the middle of well-trafficked concourses.

Click on images in the gallery above to see artist and title information, as well as the curious distortion effects rendered in iPhone photographs of art (made, in many cases, ON iPhones) displayed in a digital TV slideshow.

Why Macworld Is Better Without Apple [Macworld 2011]

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Macworld is still crowded, fun, despite Apple's absence.
Macworld is still crowded and fun, despite Apple's absence.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2011 — Two years ago, when Apple announced the company would skip the Macworld Conference and Expo after 2009, some took the news like a punch to the gut — and many wondered if the twenty-five year-old event would survive.

But without Apple totally dominating the event, the show has become what it was always supposed to be — a place for the wider Apple community to meet and mingle.

Hello Dolly! Put Time Machine Backups in the Cloud with Dolly Drive

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SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2011 — Dolly Drive, a new cloud-based storage solution specially tailored to Mac specifications, launched Thursday from the Indie Spotlight at Macworld in San Francisco and looks to be one of the smartest plays — and best values — to come out of this year’s show.

Remote storage accessible from anywhere, any time, Dolly Drive is designed to work exclusively and specifically with Apple’s Time Machine, giving Mac users an inexpensive, seamless method for creating secure, redundant (in some cases, perhaps, primary) backups that can be accessed to restore digital files from any location with an Internet connection.

With tri-level security including authentication encryption, data transmission over secure tunnel and multi-leveled, complex authentication protocols for third-party access to data at Dolly data centers, a Mac user can feel confident in the security of data stored for as little as $10 per month for 250GB. Other pricing plans prove Dolly Drive is serious about delivering value for a service that should be attractive to computer users of any sophistication level.

No other remote storage solution we’re aware of is engineered to work directly through Time Machine, nor is any so dedicated to serving Mac users.

This is definitely one of the nicest finds we’ve seen at Macworld 2011 and well worth further exploration.

Evernote – Livescribe Pairing is a True Reeses Moment [Macworld 2011]

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Your scrawl, captured with digital pen and saved with Evernote.
Your scrawl, captured with digital pen and saved with Evernote.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2011 – The twin booths for Livescribe and Evernote are mobbed this morning. Though the alliance between the popular virtual notebook and productivity suite and the MP3 pen was announced a few months ago, there’s something about seeing what they can do together that makes for a real-two-great-tastes-that-taste-better-together moment.

Ray Toledo of Evernote is busy fielding questions from teachers — three stop by while I’m there — who are asking questions about how to use the service to keep notes in a cloud system that can be accessed by students. He shows them how Evernote can recognize handwriting so you can take a picture of a whiteboard then search for the term in your database,  share it online with groups or send it as an email.

It’s not the first time he’s been asked these questions — Evernote has an ongoing series on how to use the service in education — and he also assures them that the free version is probably sufficient the needs of most for pennywise educators. (As an Evernote aficionado and prolific clipper, I’d tend to agree. I’ve never exceeded even a third of 40 megabytes free space per month.)

They’re also showing the slick looking Echo, but Toledo assures me that if I update the software for my 2GB Pulse model, I can still integrate with the note service.

Apple Products Are a Fine Fit for Enterprise, Says IT Guru [Macworld 2011]

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SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2011 — Despite the demise of the xServe, Apple products can be and are a good fit in the enterprise, according to John Welch of the Zimmerman Agency, who spoke on Apple in the Enterprise at the Macworld Industry Forum Wednesday at Macworld 2011.

First of all Apple is not an enterprise company — it is not Microsoft, not Cisco, not IBM.

But Apple doesn’t need to be an enterprise company to be a source of solid products that work well in the Enterprise, said Welch, who spoke from 20 years of experience deploying Apple products in business.

Macworld Editor’s “Secrets” for Making Predictions About Apple

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SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2011 –There’s no great secret to understanding what Apple has up its sleeves, according to Jason Snell, editor-in-chief of Macworld magazine, who spoke to attendees about “How Apple Does It” at the Macworld Conference and Expo Industry Forum Wednesday morning.

Anyone who makes a habit of keeping up with technology news understands one of the longest running games in the business involves predicting what Apple will do next.

Despite its reputation as an obsessively secret company that consistently produces products no one ever thought they needed until Steve Jobs invented them, Snell described Apple as a consistent, rational company that doesn’t do anything unexpected — and doesn’t rely on crazy mind control to achieve its success.

From the company’s very founding, the roles Jobs & his cofounder Steve Wozniak played suggested Apple’s future: Jobs understood marketing and Woz was technically brilliant at making complex technology work. One of them understood products and the other understood technology; the way they worked together would become Apple’s greatest strength and one day set their company apart from all others in American business.

Top 5 Things to Do In San Francisco During Macworld

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Heading to San Francisco to MacWorld? Here are some things to do during your precious free time – between strippers, actors and coffee, we’ve got you covered.

1. Go to a Strip Club

Eleven of the city’s big name strip clubs in North Beach are offering free or discounted admission with your Macworld badge. They include the SF classic hotspots like the Hungry-i,  the Condor and the Garden of Eden as well as Centerfolds and the Gold Club.

It begs the question: do they think Macworld is exclusively a man’s world, or that all Macs are horny and lonely? You decide.

Extra tip: if you’re into multitasking — and don’t mind the smell of strawberry body oil while you eat — the Hustler Club reportedly has an excellent happy hour buffet.

Are Macs Horny or Just Lonely? San Francisco Strip Clubs Offer Macworld Discounts

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If you’re looking for something to do in San Francisco during Macworld, eleven of the city’s strip clubs are offering half off admission with your Macworld badge.

When I first spotted this two-page centerfold ad in SF Weekly I wondered: do they think Macs are more randy or just more lonely than other tech people?

There are tech conferences every day of the week in San Francisco – this is the first time I’ve seen a big ad for a group of strip clubs promoting discounts for tech-conference goers.

Also: don’t they know a lot of the attendees are women? You can see from our last year’s “Faces of Macworld” gallery by Traci Dauphin that Macworld isn’t necessarily a man’s world. Dunno. Maybe I should gather a fistful of dollar bills and some geek girls for an expedition.

Registration Discounts Ending as MacTech Boot Camp Nears Sellout

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Early registration discounts expire Monday for MacTech Boot Camp, the one day immersive event for Mac consultants and uber-geeks held at the start of the MacWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco on January 26.

With seminars covering topics such as:

  • Marketing in a Community
  • Client Documentation, Passwords and Records
  • Troubleshooting Hardware
  • Networking Basics and Troubleshooting
  • Printing Setup and Troubleshooting (Wifi, USB, Bluetooth, and Wired)
  • iOS Support
  • Windows on the Mac Options
  • Viruses and Security

and more, MacTech Boot Camp offers a rich vein of resources designed to enhance the credentials of any Mac IT consultant offering services to the home, SOHO (small office home office) and SMB markets.

Those looking to obtain Apple certification may also sign up for a study session and exam prior to the Boot Camp on January 25.

For additional details and a full program listing see the Boot Camp website and use the phrase “pre-registration” to take advantage of the $100 registration discount.

The Fat Mac Saves the Day [Recollections]

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In part 12 of Macworld founder David Bunnell’s story of the early Mac, Bill Gates is the only developer to actually deliver on his promises of software for the Mac. Microsoft’s Excel literally saves the Mac just when sales drop to nil, but at the same time Gates’ engineers are reverse engineering the GUI for the first version of Windows.

The Macintosh Speaks For Itself (Literally)…

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Steve Jobs at the introduction of the first Mac in 1984.

In Part 11 of Macworld founder David Bunnell’s memoirs, Steve Jobs triumphantly introduces the Mac to the world. “It sang to us. It performed mathematical calculations with the blinding speed of a Cray mainframe. It drew beautiful pictures. It communicated with other computers. It bounced rays off satellites and sent a subversive message to the Soviet Union.”

Seven Tips For Bringing The Kids To Macworld

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Bring the kids to Macworld and put them to work hawking products, like their dad's new book. Photo by Omar G! http://www.flickr.com/photos/omargutierrez/85534936/
Bring the kids to Macworld and put them to work hawking products, like their dad's new book. Photo by Omar G! http://www.flickr.com/photos/omargutierrez/85534936/

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2010 — Saturday is the last day of Macworld 2010 and you can bring a friend for only $15 when you use priority code SHARE. The Expo Hall hours are from 10:00am to 6:00pm.

If you want to show the kids a good time do the following:

Couple Name Three Kids After Their Favorite Computer (Hint: It’s Not Dell)

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Steven Chan and two of his three kids, Megan and Matthew, who all share the same initials: M - A - C.
Steven Chan and two of his three kids, Megan and Matthew, who all share the same initials: M - A - C.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2010 — Steven Chan and his wife gave their three kids the same initials: M – A – C.

There’s Maxwell Alexander Chan, his brother Matthew and sister Megan.

“We’re in the printing and graphics business and we just loved the Mac from the very beginning,” said Chan. “Its the tool of our trade, so…”

In a dozen years reporting on Apple, the Chans are the first people I’ve met who named their kids after their favorite computer company. Although there have been rumors of kids named after Apple or the Mac — Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter Apple, for example — it has become an urban myth, often rumored but never verified (if ever). I don’t know of another documented case.

I met the Chans on the Macworld show floor. They’d driven up from Southern California for the Expo. The Chan’s printing business is in Riverside County.

“We’re both fanatics,” Chan added, laughing. “There’s five of us but we have eight Macs in the house. There’s more Macs than people.”

Macworld Vendors Delighted By Big Turnout, Brisk Business

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Ivan Randall of Topaz Labs thought Macworld would be dead, but he sold out two days in a row. He had to tell customers to download the software and write serial numbers on slips of paper.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2010 — The guys at Topaz Labs thought business would be slow at the first Macworld without Apple, so they packed only 250 CDs of their software.

They sold out in the first few hours of the first day.

Worried it was just an opening-day rush, and that day two would be dead, they had just 250 more overnighted to their hotel. But those too quickly sold.

“It’s been awesome. I’m exhausted,” laughed Ivan Randall of Topaz Labs. “It’s been a great show.”

Almost all the vendors we talked to told the same story: Macworld 2010 has definitely been worth the money. Many had low expectations, but turnout has been great and business is brisk.