Bluetrek Carbon Fiber: Beatweek Best of Show at Macworld 2011

There are bluetooth earpieces which feel virtually weightless, and then there are ones that are so without weight that they feel literally weightless when you pick them up and put them on. Actually there’s just one in the latter category, thanks to the fact that it’s made out of the essentially weightless material known as carbon fiber. Those who think bluetooth earpieces are too heavy to wear may now have to think again.

L5 remote: Beatweek Best of Show at Macworld 2011

The bad news: you can turn your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch into a TV remote without hardware assistance. The good news: the L5 adds infrared capability to your iDevice, which teams with an App Store app to give you a fully programmable, customizable universal remote. The cool part: you get to just drag the buttons around the screen to position them where you want them. The remote adapter costs $49, but the app is free.

Bluetrek MusiCALL: Beatweek Best of Show at Macworld 2011

Combine a multi-button iPhone music playback remote with a bluetooth wireless device, and you’re on the right track to getting the idea behind Bluetrek’s new MusiCALL product. After seeing it in action, all we could ask ourselves was why this product wasn’t invented years ago – and how soon we can get our hands on one, for that matter.

The Glif for iPhone 4: Beatweek Best of Show at Macworld 2011

It’s a steadying stand for mounting an iPhone 4 on a third party tripod. No wait, it’s an impossibly simple piece of ruggedized rubber which works as a keychain-portable stand for your iPhone. Actually, it’s both. We don’t know what a “Glif” is, but we know this product will come in handy for iPhone users on the go – particularly those who do use a tripod now and then.

PDP iPad Cases: Beatweek Best of Show at Macworld 2011

by Daynah

Individuality is everything. And what better way to show off your personal style than to dress up your iPad in a character that represents you?

PDP – Performance Designed Products, has a fun line of iPad cases that ranges from Disney characters, to Muppets, your favorite sport teams, and more!

What makes these cases special is that they come out in series. Each case design is printed only 2000 times. Once they’re sold out, they’re gone! They’re all limited-edition, so you have to try to collect them all.

For more information, see PDP.com.

Things I saw in San Francisco that had nothing to do with Macworld 2011

by Bill Palmer

San Francisco is, as anyone who’s visited the place knows, one of the more unusual cities on the planet. Love it or hate it – and even its own residents can’t seem to make up their mind which way they feel – you’re bound to see some crazy, crazy things here without even trying. So even though I came up here this week in order to attend Macworld 2011, I’ve managed to unwittingly add some more oddball San Francisco sightings to my long list. Off the top of my head, here are some of the more interesting things I saw in San Francisco this week which had nothing to do with Macworld:

- A faux-homeless guy holding a sign with read “Need A$$” – his dollar signs, not mine. Is that a double entendre? Triple entendre?

- An old man walking around Walgreens with no pants on. Enough said.

- I saw a boat run over a car. No, really. Some kind of converted fishing boat with wheels, full of tourists, was driving down Market Street. The boat made a sharp right turn and took out a Volkswagen. Whole thing happened a few feet in front of me. No photos or video (other than a shot of the boat after the fact), but I’ve got two other witnesses from the Beatweek staff. Bonus: after the boat driver stopped to go back and check on the driver of the car he’d just ran over, a little girl on the boat started blowing some kind of duck-whistle at the car.

- A strip club whose marquee offered half-off admission to Macworld attendees. Okay, so that had a little something to do with Macworld. But not officially. And no, none of us took advantage of the offer.

Trexta Sketch Up for iPhone 4: Beatweek Best of Show at Macworld 2011

The concept behind the Sketch Up by Trexta is deceptively simple: an environmentally friendly iPhone 4 case whose tagboard-like external surface can be scribbled on with magic marker for the sake of creating ones own unique personalized case. The $19 pack comes with a couple of blank cases for decorating, along with a couple of magic markers – although you can use your own magic markers for the occasion. The designs are permanent, so the company recommends drawing them on in pencil first before committing to them permanently.

At a time when iPhone cases have generally stopped being exciting, Trexta’s Sketch Up is certainly different. The idea won’t be for everyone, but it’s worth highlighting.

FastMac Impact Shield iPhone 4 case: Beatweek Best of Show at Macworld 2011

The FastMac Impact Shield for iPhone 4… but it’s just another case, right? Nope. Three and a half years into the iPhone era, cases have been done every which way but sideways. Some new cases get more complex, more visually unique, you name it, in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. But with the Impact Shield, FastMac goes in a different direction entirely. Made of super thin rubber-like material, it appears to be just another (very thin) iPhone case. But start whacking the material with a hammer, as the FastMac folks loved doing at their Macworld 2011 booth this week, and you realize that the Impact Shield is nearly indestructible.

To prove the point, FastMac had video on hand of an iPhone 4 in an Impact Shield case, being dropped from a multi-story building, being run over by a car, and so on. One might be tempted to wonder if the videos were being staged, if not for the fact that the company was hammering away at its booth – and because FastMac has already brought laptop cases made of the same material to market which prove the concept. We saw a bunch of cool new products at Macworld 2011, but not a lot of worthy iPhone 4 cases, as some companies appear to have simply run out ideas. But the Impact Shield from FastMac is definitely a winner.

Macworld 2011 attendees get oddball offer from local strip club

In one of the more peculiar developments of the week, Macworld 2011 is seeing support (or more accurately, an unaffiliated attempt to tap into its popularity) on the part of at least one Market Street adult venue. With its tens of thousands of attendees, Macworld brings a boost in revenue to the various businesses surrounding the Moscone Center in San Francisco where the annual Appe-oriented conference is housed. Attendees must find places to eat and sleep, and so restaurants and hotels benefit each January. But one strip club appears to think it can tap into the action as well, at least according to its semi-intelligible signage:

We have no idea who or what “mackiens” are, but the message is clear: Macworld 2011 attendees can gain discounted access to the club simply by flashing their badges. Obviously there’s no actual official tie-in between Macworld itself and the club; rather the club appears to simply be attempting to take advantage of the situation. Those who’ve been to strip clubs (we’re not admitting to that of course) can tell you that door admission is generally cheap to begin with and represents very little of the actual cost of attending such a venue, so the notion of “half off admission” appears aimed at Macworld attendees who have perhaps never been to such a club before.

For the record, no one on the Beatweek team who’s here in attendance at Macworld 2011 has any plans to take the club up on the offer. It’s not that we don’t appreciate it; there just isn’t time. The Macworld exhibit hall officially opens on Thursday morning, with sessions already underway, and we’ll be reporting on the most noteworthy products to see their introduction here as the week goes on. In the mean time here’s more of our Macworld 2011 coverage.

Macworld 2011: virtual assistants are the future, says Mac co-creator

by Bill Palmer

The future of mainstream computing will come down to virtual assistants you can communicate with naturally, and it’s being driven by the rise of mobile devices – just ask the guy who helped create the Mac. Bill Atkinson, a member of the original Macintosh development team at Apple, spoke at Macworld 2011 today and voiced the belief that the next step in using technology devices, beyond the mouse and even beyond touchscreens, will be the ability to talk with machines in a human manner. Atkinson cited the upcoming appearance of a computerized “contestant” on Jeopardy as a possible moment of awakening on the part of the public.

Meanwhile, in an interesting twist, Atkinson is spending his days hawking an iOS app whose goal is to bring back the popularity of the printed postcard. Here’s more on Macworld 2011.

Macworld 2011 news: dates announced for 2012, event’s future grows

Remember when Apple pulled out of Macworld Expo, and it was supposed to wither and die shortly thereafter? Think again. Macworld 2010 took on a new, more community-focused (and app-focused) direction and was ultimately one of the more energetic Macworlds in recent memory. This week Macworld 2011 is set to see if it can sustain last year’s momentum, which caught more than a few observers off guard. And in an early sign that Macworld is indeed on the right track, those who picked up their conference badges today were treated to a ‘save the date’ for the next Macworld. On the rear of the badge it reads “See you next year! January 26-28, 2012.”

So much for the notion that the most (arguably only) vital annual event in the Apple community couldn’t survive without Apple’s direct participation. The Beatweek team is onsite at Macworld 2011 this week and will be covering the most noteworthy products (apps, accessories, and who knows what else) introduced at the show.

Beatweek Magazine January 2011 Double Issue: Carlos Santana and much more

Beatweek Magazine’s January 2011 Double Issue highlights:

• Carlos Santana cover story interview: his new album Guitar Heaven, Las Vegas residency, how he puts his iPad to good use, and more

• The top iPad and iPhone accessories of the year including iPad and iPhone batteries and iPad keyboards

• Interviews with Sara Bareilles, Smashing Pumpkins, Jason Derulo, Fefe Dobson, and The Black Crowes

• Macworld 2011 conversation with Paul Kent

• Much more in this massive 120-page double issue!

Read this issue now

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Macworld 2011: Conference of the Year – interview with Paul Kent

More than a quarter century in, Macworld is still the most vital annual event in the Apple universe. Users attend to stay on top of the Mac, iPad, and iPhone platforms. If an Apple related vendor isn’t there exhibiting, people ask why. That’s impressive longevity for a conference that’s been around for as long as the Macintosh has. With Macworld 2011 coming up in the final week of January, we chat with Macworld General Manager Paul Kent, who’s been in charge of steering the event through a rapidly changing industry for the past few years.

No one was quite sure what to expect headed into Macworld 2010, with Apple not being an exhibitor, but the event ended up exceeding everyone’s expectations. In hindsight, what do you think it was that allowed Macworld to get over the hump?

First and foremost, 21,000+ Macworld fans and over 600 members of the worldwide Apple-products press attended the show last year. Macworld has been serving the Apple products world for 27 years, helping owners of Apple’s products discover new tools that can enhance their enjoyment and productivity. 90% of the products shown at Macworld aren’t available through the Apple store – Macworld remains a useful and fun venue for people who develop great products to meet new customers, maintain relationships with existing customers, and share their new creations with an eager and receptive press audience to get the word out. That premise was strong in 1985 when we started the show, and it’s still strong today.

So how do you build on that success headed into Macworld 2011?

The show floor will be about 25% bigger – more companies and more space. We have several new programs – our Featured Artist program presents visionaries from the fields of music, animation, photography and film making will be talking about their work in our paid conferences; the Macworld Live stage on the show floor offers content of interest on all things Apple hosted by the editors at Macworld Magazine and website and is totally free to the public; the Berklee Music Studio offers demonstrations and talks on creating music with your Apple products – also free to the public. Taken together – product discovery, education, demonstrations – Macworld is a very rich environment for everyone who enjoys using an Apple product!

The 2010 App Pavilion, in its first year, was as crowded as a mosh pit. How will the pavilion evolve this time around?

We launched the Mobile App Showcase last year 1 week after the iPad was introduced – so we look forward to presenting several new apps for the iPad there. The area has been redesigned to allow people to find specific developers easily. Also, we’ve added some larger stands for those developers that want some room to show multiple products. As you mentioned – it was packed last year, so we’re trying to accommodate everyone who wants to participate and still make it comfortable for attendees.

You set the bar pretty high last year with David Pogue, Leo Laporte, BT, and John Gruber all seeing packed houses for their feature presentations. What have you got up your sleeve this time?

Our Feature Presentation programs in 2011 will offer an eclectic mix of thought provoking presentations, performance, and humor. Our opening Feature Presentation will be Sinbad, who is well known to Mac fans – he’s been very present as an attendee of Macworld, and has a lot of thoughts and experience on using Macs in creative endeavors. We’ll also take attendees behind the scenes with how science fiction movies have conceived and presented technology interfaces through the years with Prof Nathan Shedroff, offer performances and tech demonstrations by Jordan Rudess (iPad developer and keyboard player for Dream Theater) and Zoe Keating (cellist and Interface designer), and go inside some Apple products – really inside – as Kyle Wiens of iFixit takes apart an iPad and iPhone and explains the technology used to created these incredible devices.

Apple has introduced a number of new products this year. How do plan to integrate those into Macworld 2011?

iPads will be everywhere at Macworld – our official show app, iMacworld – puts a show floor map and personal agenda planning tool in everyone’s hands – it now runs native on an iPad, our Mobile App Showcase has been expanded to include iPad apps, and dozens of new companies offering iPad accessories are appearing at the show.

In the past you’ve played with some other Mac industry notables in a rock band called The Macworld All Star Band. Can we count on a repeat performance?

You bet – I play guitar, Dave Hamilton from MacObserver plays drums, Chris Breen from Macworld plays keyboards, Chuck LaTournous from Random Maccess plays bass, Bryan Chaffin from MacObserver plays guitar, writer Bob Levitus also plays guitar, and Duane Straub plays bass. We play at the Cirque du Mac party – a total blast.

Some of the Macworld 2011 announcements have yet to be made. What’s the best way to follow along with the news for the next few months?

Interested attendees can watch our website – www.macworldexpo.com, follow our twitter feed – @macworldexpo, and “like” our Facebook page – www.facebook.com/macworld for all the latest information.

Macworld 2011 to include Microsoft, HP, OWC, Dr. Bott, Monster, more

After a highly successful 2010 event in February which caught some observers by surprise, IDG has begun releasing details for Macworld 2011. While the event will once again not include the participation of Apple itself, several heavy hitters from the Macintosh (plus iPhone, iPad, iPod) universe have officially signed on to participate in the 2011 show, which will take place in late January in San Francisco.

Chief among the announced exhibitors is Microsoft which, while seen as an Apple rival in some aspects, provides Macintosh users with a Mac version of its Office suite. Also on board is Hewlett Packard which, again despite being one of Apple’s rivals in the computer market, is also one of the primary providers of printers to the Mac market. Additional returning exhibitors include accessory distributor Dr. Bott; headphone makers Monster and Sennheiser, plus accessory makers Scosche; Other World Computing, FastMac, Mophie, and Trexta; Mac software makers SmileOnMyMac, OmniGroup, and MacSpeech; and technology titan Fujitsu. The published list does not include iPhone app developers, who made up the largest group of new Macworld exhibitors this past year.

Macworld 2010 saw an exhibit hall which was crowded almost to the point of annoyance, along with feature presentations from David Pogue, Leo Laporte, director Kevin Smith, musician BT, and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber. While some had preemptively written off the 2010 event due to Apple’s lack of participation, the six hundred journalists in attendance generally agreed that the event was an all around success.

The published dates for Macworld 2011 are January 25th through 29th. Registration for the expo has not yet opened.

How Macworld made it without Apple