LightScribe Pulse Smart Pen

This was one of the busiest booths on the entire show floor, and certainly the most crowded. I couldn't even get enough time with the product to take a picture! But I can't leave this amazing product out. It's the most useful tool for anyone to take to a lecture or meeting. You use it on specially printed paper, either from a preprinted notebook or that you've printed yourself on your inkjet. It records everything you write, as you write it. Not only that, it can record audio at the same time, and keep it in sync with the notes. It comes with a USB cradle to sync the notes and audio back to your computer. Once the data is there, you can listen to the audio and it will show you which note you were writing at that moment. As if all that isn't enough, it can translate what you're writing into another language or perform simple math calculations, and display the results on the pen itself, before you even sync.

Dragon-i iPod Dock

Just like last year, I have to show one of the stranger products that we WON'T be stocking. This is called the Dragon-i. It doesn't sound that bad, but it's pricey. I've seen docks that cost half as much that offer better sound. Still, you have to give them credit for building something that looks so different from every other iPod dock out there.

Iomega Drives

Now that Iomega has been acquired by longtime Mac software vendor emc, they seem to be paying a lot more attention to Mac users. Check out their array of external hard disks for Macs. Besides solutions obviously designed to match the Mac Pro, Mac Mini, and MacBook Air, there are some other great options. The two drives with the black rubber harnesses on them are actually designed and tested to survive a fall from seven feet! It really seems like they've put a lot of thought into this line. Toss in the fact that they include great software like Retrospect, and these drives are very appealing. Plus they were showing off their upcoming Home Media Network Hard Drive which integrates so well with itunes it's almost as if Apple themselves designed it.

Iqua vizorSUN

This is amazing. A hands-free bluetooth car setup that clips to your visor and is powered by a solar panel. No more attaching and detaching somethng, or running another cable down to your power socket. Just one simple, slick device with no cables. This makes it simple (and legal) to use your phone in your car.

Verbatim Speaker Keyboard

This is a perfect accessory for the Mac Mini. It's a keyboard with built in speakers. It also features a slick blue backlighting, music controls, and a single USB cable connection for all of its functions. Of course it has the Mac keyboard layout with correctly positioned Command, Option, and Control keys. Neat idea.

iSkin Fuze for iPhone

This is my new favorite iPhone case. It's beautiful, with a soft, colorful inner layer and a hard, clear outer layer. This means it will protect the phone without grabbing onto pockets. Available in several different colors, it does seem the best fusion of other soft and hard case attributes.

Griffin AirCurve.

This iPhone stand surprised me. It's a beautiful yet inexpensive clear stand for the iPhone which also passively amplifies the small speakers built in to the bottom of the iPhone. While serious audio listening will still require an actual speaker dock, this makes other iPhone sounds like Alarms, Ringtones, and incoming Text Messages much louder and more clear. In fact, Griffin claims a 10 dB improvement, which means these sounds are twice as loud. It also has a pass-through slot for a charger cable. This is perfect for iPhone users (like me) who occasionally miss calls and alarms because they leave the phone in another room.

Speck See Thru Satin Cases

Speck, who makes one of our most popular accessories, the SeeThru Hard Case, had some new twists on that concept. In addition to new models to fit the new MacBook and MacBook Pro, they also introduced a new satin finish. The new finish feels slightly soft to the touch, eliminates a lot of the plasticky gloss, and generally makes the product much better.

JBL OnTime 200P

The JBL OnTime 200P is easily the best sounding Alarm Clock dock I've seen. It's also fully iPod and iPhone compatible, and comes with a handy remote to control both the iPod and the Audio System. Plus it has an AM/FM Tuner, so you can listen to the radio, too.

JBL OnStage Speaker Docks

JBL Speaker docks are consistently among the best sounding mid-priced docks out there. What makes them really impressive is that they get their rich, full sound out of incredibly small, beautiful packages. The OnStage IIIp, above, is the latest in the popular OnStage line, now with a full remote. It is small enough to take with you when travelling, and can run from batteries as well as wall power. It works great with all docking iPods and iPhones, without triggering the annoying Airplane Mode dialog or allowing digital interference from the phone.

The OnStage 200iD is a larger cousin to the IIIp. It shares many of the same features, including the great sound, the remote and full iPhone compatibility. This model is larger, and requires wall power at all times. It is more powerful, though, and can fill a larger room with beautiful sound.

STM Slip Notebook Case

This case is great for people who take their MacBook everywhere with them, set up, do a bit of work, and then break back down to head to the next place. Students going to class, for example. It's a bit more substantial than a neoprene sleeve, but still light and compact. It actually straps to the notebook, and you leave it on as you use it. When you need to use your machine, just unzip the sides and open it up. It has a small compartment for a few cables, and a handle to make it easy to carry.

STM Evolution Backpack

Anyone who knows me knows I've used the same old laptop bag for a decade. That's about to change. This backpack is amazing. It comes with a rain cover which is stored in a compartment on the bottom of the bag, and can be deployed to keep your stuff dry in even the worst of storms. There are compartments for everything, including a well-padded one for your laptop, plus others for your cables, ipod, books, phone, and more. The laptop stays hidden while you're grabbing a book. It's incredibly comfortable, with light yet effective padding that makes even a full load easy to carry. This is easily the best thought-out computer backpack I've ever seen.

DriveSavers live demo

DriveSavers was actually doing a live demo of their data recovery technique. They set up a quasi-clean space, took a hard disk apart, showed how to examine it with a microscope and stethoscope. Impressive stuff. Obviously, you should always back up your stuff, but if you need them, it's good to know people like this are there for you.

LightSpeed Web Store 2.0

Our Point of Sale developer, Xsilva, is showing off upcoming changes to their product LightSpeed. The new Web Store is impressive, and will enable a lot of improvements to our website when it's released. In addition to very slick drag and drop ordering, it allows live order and repair tracking. This is huge. Any customer who has a custom order coming or a repair checked in with us will be able to head to our website and get a real-time summary of what we're working on for them.

They were also showing upcoming changes to the main LightSpeed Application, including a slick new front end and an interface that will allow other developers to create additions to the software like an improved Global Service Exchange module. All this should speed up our ordering, check-out, and repair creation processes.

Targus File Transfer Cable

Another simple yet useful idea: the File Transfer cable. This is neat because it works on both PCs and Macs, and all the software is built into the cable itself. It's the perfect solution for people who are migrating a lot of data from Windows to a Mac, or who have to move documents back and forth across platforms regularly. It's much easier and faster than creating a network share between the machines. The only limit to how much you can transfer is the available hard disk space on the destination machine. It's also significantly faster than using a flash drive. The machines in the image have a bunch of other stuff plugged in, too. This cable is the skinny grey one with the blue LED on the larger left hand connector.

MacAlly Keyboards

These are really inexpensive, yet feel nice and have the traditional Mac key layout and labels, including important keys like Command and Option which tend to be mapped in strange ways on keyboards that were made for Windows. They are available in wired and a bluetooth wireless that takes advantage of the built-in bluetooth on virtually all modern Macs. These are perfect for people who want more traditional keys, a full number pad on a bluetooth keyboard, or just a less expensive alternative to the aluminum Apple keyboards.

MacBook Pro Battery

OK, this is probably more technical than most people care for, but it really shows how much better the new battery is. And after all, I AM a technician.

A little more research showed that the new 17-inch MacBook Pro's battery is a 95 Watt Hour unit. This compares to 68 Watt Hours in all previous 17-inch models. The demo I was able to play with out on the floor showed an actual full charge capacity of 12758 mAh, which is much higher than any portable Mac made until now, almost three times what my own MacBook Pro has, for example.

Scosche passPORT

Here is a simple yet incredibly useful product. It allows the newest generation of iPods and iPhones, which can only charge over USB, to work with older accessories that provided power through FireWire. There are actually many speaker docks, car kits, and other accessories like this. Some were made as recently as last summer. The passPORT is an inexpensive and easy solution to keep them current.

New iLife 09

iPhoto is to die for. The "Faces" and "Places" features add so much organizational power to this already impressive app. And the Facebook and Flickr integration make it so much easier to share your images.

GarageBand is very cool. The Lessons actually draw in brand new musicians - people who haven't previously been able to use this application. Apple's framework for teaching is an impressive new use for this already powerful Application

iMovie seems much more powerful than before, too. From technical features like applying audio from one clip over another and smoothing out camera jitter to features that create a polished finished product like the Themes and Maps, this App makes home movies exciting. The themes feature is especially cool, creating a very dynamic movie from raw footage in almost no time.

Well, back to the show to find more.

More MacBook Pro

I'm actually really excited about the changes they've made to the battery. I need to go back and find out exactly what the capacity is, but having a 1000-cycle expected life instead of the previous 300-cycle is a huge improvement. Also, having 7-8 hours of life instead of the previous 4-5 really means each cycle is worth a lot more. Not to mention the convenience of being able to work away from an outlet for three more hours than before. The solid bottom panel to this laptop just adds to the sleek look and feel, unlike most PCs where the bottom is a mishmash of panels, vents, screws, and stickers. I'm sure it is also contributing to the solid feel, which is unlike any 17" laptop I've ever encountered. It is impressive.

Macworld Show Floor

The excitement is everywhere. There are still tons of eager Mac users, enthusiastic presenters, and curious local Media. The floor is busy and interesting. Although I've only really hit Apple's booth so far, there is a ton more to see.

New Macbook Pro

Wow. I'm in. The show has the same energy as always, with tons of eager Mac-fanatics, enthusiastic vendors, and of course media everywhere.

First off, since I'm a hardware guy, I had a chance to play with one of the new 17-inch MacBook Pros. They only have four demo units here on the show floor, so I was lucky to get a bit of time to play with it. It feels amazingly solid, much like the 13-inch MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pros introduced in October. This is an especially impressive feat for a large machine like this.

The new model weighs 6.6 pounds, which is a slight reduction from the previous model's 6.8. Also very impressive given how solid it is. Build to order options include an antiglare screen, faster 2.93 GHz Core 2 Duo Processor, 8GB of RAM, and various hard drives and solid state drives. Right now they're predicting a ship date at the end of January, though that is subject to change.

Macworld Keynote Coverage

I'll be heading for the show floor as soon as it opens, 11AM PST, which is actually 1PM back in Illinois. Until then, I recommend Engadget and Gizmodo for the best coverage. I can't wait to see what's in store!

Macworld 2009

I'm packing up and getting ready to head to San Francisco for Macworld 2009. Although I won't be providing live keynote coverage this year, expect many posts from the meetings and show floor from Tuesday through Friday this week, with a wrap-up over the weekend.

Despite Steve Jobs not providing the keynote speech, I'm very excited about what Apple and others have in store. The rumors surrounding Apple's upcoming products are intriguing to say the least, though I'll refrain from commenting until the announcements become official. AppleInsider and MacRumors both have plenty to mull over for now.

I'm always excited about the opportunity to discover new third party products and services, too. Lots of the products on our shelves today started out as "Wow! That's cool!" moments at shows like this one. I think the iPhone Accessory market has become far more mature in the past year, and I'd like to find several new items to bring back with me. Of course, as a 21-year Mac user, I'm always interested in new third party solutions for Macs, too.

So check back here all week and head over to the Illini Apple Center in Champaign over the coming weeks to see all the greatest new stuff from Apple and others.