By the time you see your next issue of TidBITS, Macworld Expo in San Francisco will have started, with the show floor open from 10-Jan-06 through 13-Jan-06. From what I can tell, the show floor will be packed, with over 330 exhibitors, and although it will all fit in the South Hall of Moscone Center, my sense is that it will feel much more like the huge Macworld Expos of yesteryear. Although we won't see anything like the party-packed years of past, there are a few more public events this year.
<http://www.macworldexpo.com/live/20/events/ 20SFO06A>
Inside Mac kicks off the week with its Macworld 2006 launch party on Monday, January 9th at the Renaissance San Francisco Parc 55 (55 Cyril Magnin Street) hotel from 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM. Admission is free, and there will be dessert and coffee to enjoy while meeting with the Inside Mac team, event sponsors, and fellow attendees.
Next up for party-goers will be Deb Shadovitz's Party for the People, which is scheduled for Tuesday, January 10th in the 2nd floor Piazza lounge of the Renaissance San Francisco Parc 55 hotel. It starts at 8:00 PM and a Macworld Expo badge is necessary for admission. Tonya and Jeff Carlson and I hope to be there, schedules permitting.
<http://www.shadovitz.com/partyforthepeople06/>
Then, on Thursday, January 12th, the Netter's Dinner is celebrating its 20th anniversary in traditional style at the Hunan at Sansome and Broadway, where the hot and spicy Chinese dinner (vegetarian dishes are available) costs $18. You must register in advance by Tuesday, January 10th, via Kagi; the link below has all the details. I'm particularly looking forward to this dinner since our fearless organizer, Jon Pugh of the Hawaiian shirts and booming voice, plans to be in attendance, thus allowing me to enjoy the audience heckling during the raise-your-hands survey from the other side of the microphone. As in previous years, meet at the top of the escalators on the south side of Moscone at 6:00 PM and be prepared for a brisk, sometimes damp, walk that snarls traffic throughout downtown San Francisco. We'll leave no later than 6:30 PM for the restaurant.
<http://www.seanet.com/~jonpugh/ nettersdinner.html>
TidBITS/Take Control Events -- Here's a summary of the events that Tonya, Jeff Carlson, Joe Kissell, Scott Knaster, and I have scheduled, and at which we'd love to see you. Be sure to verify booth numbers and locations, since things sometimes change at the last minute.
Monday, 09-Jan-06 finds me at the User Group University answering audience questions along with Chris Breen and Bob LeVitus. The event is for Macintosh user group leaders and requires registration.
<http://homepage.mac.com/ugab/ugu06.html>
Tuesday, 10-Jan-06 is bound to be a crazy day, as we scramble to cover whatever Apple announces during Steve Jobs's morning keynote. Along with that usual insanity, Tonya and I will be at the MacNotables live podcast at 4:00 PM at the Macworld booth (#807), undoubtedly talking about Apple's announcements. Then, in the evening, we hope to make it to Deb Shadovitz's Party for the People, mentioned above.
Wednesday, 11-Jan-06 will undoubtedly be filled with iPhoto for me, since I'm speaking at the Peachpit booth (#1507) at 11:00 AM and then giving a "Sharing Photos in iPhoto" presentation as part of the Macworld Users Conference from 4:15 to 5:30 PM. The room for that presentation won't be announced ahead of time, but it should be in the show guide or on signs.
Also at 11:00 AM, Jeff Carlson will be speaking on "Graduate from iMovie HD to Final Cut Express HD" as part of the Users Conference. At 2:00 PM, he'll be at the Peachpit booth (#1507) talking about iMovie and answering questions about iLife and whatever other topics come up. Then, at 3:00 PM, Tonya will be in the User Group Lounge talking about clearing your Desktop, and Scott Knaster will follow her at 4:00 PM to talk about "Take Control of Switching to the Mac."
<http://www.macworldexpo.com/live/20/events/ 20SFO06A/conference/tracksessions/ Digital+Video/QMONYA04P5LD>
<http://www.mugcenter.com/macworld/sf2006/ uglounge.html>
Thursday, 12-Jan-06 brings an eclectic mix of events. Tonya will be starting out the day by participating on the latest installment of the MacBrainiac Challenge game show at 9:30 AM; look for signs to the room. Then Joe Kissell and I will be at the Now Software booth (#2333) to sign copies of Joe's "Take Control of Now Up-to-Date & Contact 5" manual and talk about the software. At 3:00 PM, Jeff Carlson will be giving a Taste of the Conference session entitled "Intro to Desktop Movie Making." Then, at 4:30, Tonya, Jeff, and I are all heading over to the San Francisco Apple Store on Market Street to give a Peachpit-organized presentation about what was hot at the show, focusing on topics related to digital photography, digital video, wireless networking, along with anything else that caught our eyes. At 6:00 PM we'll all be back at South Hall to meet up for the Netter's Dinner.
Some of our sessions are relatively free-form, so please, bring your questions and comments about anything we do, so we can enjoy the challenge of talking on our feet after several days of the sensory overload of the show. See you at the show!