Apple may be boycotting Macworld Expo [1], and it may be odd having it a month later than usual, but many TidBITS and Take Control authors will still be in attendance during the show, which takes place from Tuesday, 9 February 2010 through Saturday, 13 February 2010 (but note that the exhibit hall floor is open only on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of that week; Tuesday and Wednesday are for conference sessions). Here's our current schedule, and please do come by and say hello!
Note that once again Macworld Expo takes place in both the new Moscone West and the old Moscone South, so plan for some walking time between the two. If there are any changes or additions, or if we learn about more room numbers, we'll update this article on our Web site, so check back there for the latest right before the show.
Tuesday, February 9th -- Though the expo floor won't open for two more days, there are so many sessions that IDG World Expo starts them on Tuesday.
- 1:00 PM: Take Control author Tom Negrino will be running a hands-on MacLabs sessions called "Building Better Documents with Pages" in Room 2011, West Hall.
- 5:00 PM: Although this event isn't specifically related to Macworld Expo, Jeff Carlson will be at the Apple Store (1 Stockton Street) to talk about Photoshop Elements 8 for Mac.
Thursday, February 11th -- Along with expo floor opening, a number of TidBITS staffers have talks on Thursday.
- 10:30 AM: Joe Kissell will be giving a Users Conference session in Room 2022, West Hall, titled "Upgrading to Snow Leopard." As you might imagine, Joe knows a lot about that topic.
- 10:30 AM: If you're already using Snow Leopard, you might instead want to check out Take Control author Ted Landau's "Bugs & Fixes: Real World Mac Troubleshooting," again in West Hall (though we don't know the exact room yet).
- 3:00 PM: After lunch, Joe is back on stage in another Users Conference session in Room 2004, West Hall, with "The Paperless Mac Office," based on his need to keep paper in his tiny Paris apartment to a minimum.
- 5:00 PM: To finish off the day, you can listen to TidBITS Security Editor Rich Mogull talk about "Truths, Lies, and Fictions in Mac and iPhone Security" (we're unsure of the exact location of this talk, but it will probably be in West Hall).
- 5:00 PM: If security isn't your thing, Dan Frakes, who edits a number of our Take Control books, will be joined by a bunch of our other friends from Macworld to answer questions in the "Ask the Editors" session. The location is yet to be set on this one.
- 6:00 PM: Many of us will be meeting at the top of the South Hall escalators in preparation for the annual Netter's Dinner [2]. At 6:30, we'll all parade to the Hunan at Sansome and Broadway, where the hot and spicy Chinese dinner (vegetarian dishes are available) costs $20. You must register in advance by Tuesday, February 9th, via Kagi; the link has all the details. Jon Pugh will once again be hosting, and it promises to be another great night of food and conversation.
Friday, February 12th -- Joe has even more to do on Friday, and you can come see Adam and Joe together late in the day.
- 10:30 AM: In Room 2022, West Hall, Joe will be talking more about Snow Leopard, specifically "Working with Services in Snow Leopard."
- 1:00 PM: With only a brief break for food, Joe will be back in Room 2022, West Hall, to give "Text Magic in Snow Leopard," although we doubt he'll be revealing just how he manages to write Take Control ebooks so quickly.
- 3:00 PM: Once again in Room 2022, West Hall, Adam will moderate a panel discussion called "Email Client Showdown" with Joe and a variety of experts on different email programs, including Jason Snell, Chuck Goolsbee, and John Welch. If you're at all unhappy with your current email program and wonder what features others might give you, don't miss this session.
Saturday, February 13th -- The date change and loss of Apple has freed IDG World Expo to extend Macworld to a Saturday, making it easy for San Francisco residents who can't take time off during the work week to attend. We have a few sessions on Saturday too.
- 10:00 AM: Dori Smith, who has helped out with Take Control editing and back end work in the past, will be giving a MacIT session called "Making Your Sites iPhone Friendly" in Room 2018, West Hall.
- 10:30 AM: Jeff Carlson will be in Room 2004, West Hall, to give a Users Conference session called "Livin' the iLife: A Beginner's Guide to the iLifestyle." We imagine it involves iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, iDVD, iWeb, and, well, GarageBand, which clearly needs a leading i.
- 1:00 PM: If you haven't been able to see Joe at any of his Users Conference sessions, you can definitely find him at the Wiley booth (#1765), where he'll be signing his "Mac Security Bible" and talking about security on the Mac.
Even More -- Looking for more to do? IDG World Expo has plenty planned, so be sure to check out the Macworld Expo Web site for full details; their PDF-based Hot Sheet [3] brings together all the special events.
[1]: http://www.macworldexpo.com/
[2]: http://www.seanet.com/~jonpugh/nettersdinner.html
[3]: http://www.macworldexpo.com/storage/12/documents/HotSheet.final.pdf